Growing Pains
by Jujubee1981
Summary: Tesla's new abilities wreak havoc. Helen works to cure him. But a new abnormal may hold the key to more than just the cure for Tesla's problem. It's all romance, though, folks!
1. Chapter 1

Nikola Tesla sat on the floor, sulking with truly breathtaking talent, in a dark cell in the Shoe. He had been sitting silently now for over three hours breaking his silence only to snap out pithy remarks and make demands. Before he began sulking he had been throwing an epic tantrum. It had taken a tranq dart to persuade him to enter isolation and after he woke in the cell he was furious. He had created an electromagnetic surge which had caused the very foundations of the Sanctuary to vibrate and nearly every electrical device to blow. Luckily, the backup to the backup generator was mechanical – and gas-powered. Chalk one up to Helen Magnus for holding onto old junk.

Since he had also managed to shatter all the light bulbs in his cell during the course of his bad humor, he sat in the dark glaring moodily out of the clear partition at the chaos he had caused. Henry hurried around, fussing with backup drives and putting irreparable components into a bin for the Big Guy to haul out. The unpretentious werewolf also frequently glanced back at Tesla to frown or make a censorious remark.

"I'll have to build another one of these." Henry said, holding up an obviously toasted gadget. "You can't go down to Radioshack for this stuff."

"Says _you_. To _me_." The erstwhile vampire replied haughtily and with considerable venom. "There wouldn't _be_ a Radioshack without me."

Henry's eyes dropped. There was truth in that statement. He went back to his work.

"Let me out and I can help you." Tesla's voice became coaxing.

"Magnus said you have to stay put. It's for your own safety." Henry replied, as if quoting a textbook.

Tesla gave an exasperated sigh and slumped against the wall of the dark cell, closing his eyes wearily. "And did the lovely Doctor Magnus give you any idea of how long I needed to be kept 'safe'?"

"Until she figures out why you're going all Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde."

"Henry Jekyll was bipolar, schizophrenic, and a terrible chess player, but otherwise a harmless man. You read too many novels. Anyway, I have an artist's temperament." Nikola said flippantly, opening his eyes. Despite his tone, he was privately anxious himself. Never one for uncontrollable mood swings and, while completely lacking in self-denial, well schooled in self-discipline, the brilliant scientist was concerned he was losing his sanity. Maybe he was just getting…here he shuddered at the thought…_older_.

Helen Magnus swept into the room and stood in front of the partition. "Well, Nikola, I hope you're proud of yourself." She said frankly. "You've managed to fry my computer during your little demonstration. It held the work I was conducting on your recent troubles."

Nikola rolled his eyes and rose to his feet to stand facing her. "Use your notebooks. Don't pretend with me, darling, you've kept short hand notes since Oxford."

Helen sighed. He'd called her bluff. She had been hoping to…what?...make him feel remorse for the disproportionate and deliberately destructive tantrum he had thrown after she had isolated him in the Shoe? She wasn't sure he was capable of feeling anything that wasn't immediately linked to selfishness. Before they took the Source blood he was so…thoughtful, concerned, gentle. She had attributed the egomaniacal personality traits to his vampiric side. Now that the vampire was dead, so to speak, it was clear Nikola was determined to continue to bury his better nature. "I have some news for you." She said, stopping her musings.

"Mm?" Nikola said with disinterest, inspecting his nails. "Are you going to let me out?"

"No."

He sighed and looked up. "Then what is this fascinating news you have to share?"

"I think you're going through, well, I suppose they could be termed 'growing pains'." Helen said.

"I regret to inform you that I'm quite grown up already, my dear." Nikola said, recovering some of his usual smirk. "I know you prefer taller men but I think if you give me a chance you'll find I have a lot to offer."

Helen didn't dignify this with an answer. "Your DNA is changing. Your devamper did exactly what it was supposed to."

"Of course it did. I created it, didn't I? Anyway, don't remind me." Nikola replied morosely.

"It devamped you. But it _only_ devamped you. Your healing abilities and longevity were evidently not part of your vampire abilities as we'd always assumed. You're not immortal but you're still incredibly hard to kill. " Helen's face blossomed into a shining smile. "Your body is not aging, either. Like me. Looks like we're stuck with you forever after all." Her eyes misted slightly as she spoke the last sentence.

Nikola's face lit with genuine joy and relief. Then he visibly retreated within himself, hiding behind his smooth smile. "You _want_ to keep me around forever, Helen, just admit it. Our little secret." Helen hesitated, because it was the simple truth that the prospect of losing Nikola, the only other infinite member of the Five, had been causing despair and a shattering feeling of emptiness in her.

Henry cleared his throat. Nikola glared at him and Henry continued cleaning up. Helen recovered her composure and continued.

"But now the other news. It seems your new ability – the electromagnetism – actually causes constant electromagnetic vibrations on a cellular level. The constant vibration and current is causing cell mutation and, as yet, I can't determine whether I can stop it or what it's doing to you. I am certain your recent problems have stemmed from the mutations and if I can find a way to neutralize them, perhaps help your body make cells that can withstand the vibration and current, I'm hopeful it will arrest the damage and the…mercurial personality changes you've been experiencing."

"So I'm in lockdown for my own safety." Nikola concluded heavily. "And yours." He added. "But we've already seen that lockdown doesn't necessarily prevent me from exerting my influence, as it were."

"Still, Nikola, I think it's best to keep you away from outside stimuli until I gain a better understanding of your new talent. Last time you had an episode you shoved Kate through a plate glass window." She reminded him. "We're just fortunate it was the ground floor, but she needed stitches."

"I might've done that in any event." Tesla smirked.

"Physical violence isn't your custom as a rule, Nikola. Particularly against young women who merely happen to be walking past you. I'll ask someone to bring you some lunch… and some new light bulbs." She turned to go.

"Helen?" Nikola called after her, his voice uncharacteristically desperate.

"Yes?" She turned back.

Nikola's expression was briefly unguarded, showing his fear and the anxiety of being locked up alone indefinitely. But then he smiled superciliously and said. "Have them bring wine with lunch and some reading material – a copy of your work this far. I'm atrophying in here – it's a waste of my talents to stay idle."

Helen gave him a gentle smile in response to his moment of vulnerability. "I will. Perhaps you can help me find a solution." She paused and added. "Be patient and try to stay calm, Nikola. I won't rest until I suss this out."

She left the room and Tesla turned back to his dark, bare cell. "Thank you." He whispered into the still air.


	2. Chapter 2

Tesla was pleased when his lunch arrived, as promised, with wine, light bulbs, and Helen's notes. But he was overjoyed that all of it was delivered on a handy metal tray. He spent the following half hour allowing his lunch to get cold as he tested various theories with the tray. First he stood on the tray and generated a magnetic field to lift himself up to replace the bulbs. Then he used his abilities to generate force to slam the tray against the clear barrier wall in hopes of shattering it. He was impressed when the blows caused only small scars to the surface of the transparent wall but battered and bent the tray until it was practically useless. For a while he stood examining the clear material, but was unable to determine what it was without having any tools. Then he straightened the tray out and ate his lunch.

Needing food again was a discomfort Nikola secretly relished. As a half-vampire, there was little flavor in food. Wine had been the only solace for his taste buds, which had constantly craved blood in a way that was always a mild distraction. Dead animal flesh had revolted him, and, while digestion continued in its normal course, his body hadn't actually required calories to subsist. He now ate several now-cold slices of roast beef with gusto, enjoying the sated feeling it brought. Sipping burgundy and absently picking at the French roll and also now-cooled sautéed green beans on his plate, he opened Helen's notes and began to read. Time passed quickly as he swiftly absorbed the content of her work.

"How insulting." He said petulantly, finally reaching her description of his most recent episode when in the grips of a rage. "_Irrational, reckless, and homicidal,_ indeed. I don't recall being reckless."

"Reckless is your neutral, Nikola." Helen's mild voice cut into his muttering. "Or was destroying one of our lab trays an act of restraint?" He looked up to find her standing on the other side of the scarred clear partition. She was inspecting the damage to the wall.

"I destroyed that tray in the spirit of scientific inquiry." Tesla said sanctimoniously. He picked up the cloth napkin that had arrived with his lunch and fastidiously wiped his hands and lips. "What the devil is this partition made of?"

"When we figure out how to fix your mutation problem, I'll tell you. I think even you will be impressed, Nikola."

"I am already impressed, Miss Magnus." He replied magnanimously. Rising gracefully, he took the notebook he was reading and strolled to stand in front of her. She looked at him sadly through the barrier.

"I hate to keep you like this, Nikola. But until we determine what is causing these rages and how to stop them, you must understand that I can't have any more destruction and I especially can't have anyone else thrown through windows. First floor or otherwise." Helen's face pleaded with him to understand. She pressed a palm to the window between them.

"I know." Nikola replied in a rare moment of sincerity. He looked at her hand then slowly lifted his hand and placed his palm against hers, absolving her. "You're just one big soft spot, Helen."

He dropped his hand and took a step back from her, smoothing out his expression. "That girl with the tranquilizer dart was really the primary offense. I _was_ working up to going quietly, of course."

"Kate is a little trigger happy, I'll admit, and she wasn't at her best. She had just finished getting thirty-two stitches." Helen said. Nikola had the grace to consider this with a frown.

"Do you need a blood sample for your work with my cells?" He asked, abruptly changing the subject.

"I seem to have a lot of your blood on hand." Helen said in reply, which a twitch of her lips. "The vibrations and electrical currents actually seem to originate on the cellular level. Once the cells die – and as I said before, it takes a lot to kill them – the properties cease to exist."

"I'm sorry to inform you that I don't consider death an acceptable remedy." Nikola said, affronted.

She sighed. "I wasn't suggesting that we attempt to kill you. Good Lord, Nikola! We just need to either find a way to make your cells more resilient so they stop mutating and causing the rages, or find a way to siphon or…channel…your destructive energy away from your body."

Tesla dropped his head backwards in exasperation. "So either copper soled shoes, which will break my shoemaker's heart, or genetic engineering? What's behind door number three?"

"I don't know yet, but I think your shoes are safe for now."

Tesla looked dotingly down at his shining black balmorals then met Helen's gaze urgently. "Let me out, Helen. Let me work on this too. You can lock me in my lab during the day and in here at night if you're concerned about security, but you must know that sitting here helpless and useless is torture for me."

Helen swallowed hard and fought with herself. His eyes held no mocking amusement. They were soft and earnest like they had been all those years ago at Oxford when the two of them had been so close. She sometimes dreamed of those eyes. "I can't." She whispered. "Forgive me, Nikola."

The smooth mask was back and his lips curved. "I'll forgive you anything, my dear." He drawled, his eyes sliding away to a corner of the room.

"Oh Nikola, don't do that." She begged softly.

"Do what? You're probably right. I'd pitch that irritating protégé of yours off a turret and blame it on the mutation." Nikola smirked.

"Give me one more day. You haven't had an episode in twelve hours. If that continues, we'll discuss…"

Tesla interrupted. "Work release?"

Helen's face fell. She still felt guilty.

"Ohw, Helen, have a sense of humor!" Nikola scoffed. "Fine, you have twenty four hours to cure me."

"I _am_ trying my best, Nikola."

"And your best_ is_ the best, my dear." Tesla said with a charming smile. "Now give the prisoner a smile to get him through the lonely night."

Helen's cheeks dimpled, fighting a smile. "I'll be back for lunch tomorrow." She shook a finger at him. "Behave yourself until then."

"Oh, yes ma'am." Nikola said in an intrigued tone, his eyes gleaming as they swept over her. "You know, I've never understood the schoolteacher fantasy until this moment but it really works for me. Do you have a pair of glasses you could wear?"

Helen rolled her eyes. "Goodbye, Nikola. I'll be back." She swung around and headed for the lab.


	3. Chapter 3

Tesla prowled his cell restlessly. It was five in the morning and sleep had eluded him. Without a lab he really couldn't examine any of his theories further and now that the Sanctuary was silent and everyone asleep – well, except those that didn't sleep, and they weren't the sort of company Tesla usually kept – he had no outlet for his energy. Idleness and frustration caused him to pace back and forth like a caged tiger.

"Nikola, you're awake." Helen walked into the Shoe. He stopped pacing and came to stand facing her.

"Helen, _you're_ awake." He echoed in reply.

"I'm glad you're up. I think I have something." Helen's faced glowed.

"Shall I call my cobbler and alert the Fire Department or roll up my sleeve and find a vein?" Nikola asked, eying her warily.

"Vein, I'm afraid." Helen said sympathetically. "I've found a way to synthesize your cellular proteins – the healthy ones – to adhere to and enhance your living cells' ability to withstand the effects of the electromagnetic energy they're creating. It will need to be a maintenance drug because it eventually breaks down."

"Perfect, as soon as I stop taking my vampire drugs I'm on magnet drugs." Nikola said wearily.

"If it works over the next several days, I'll try to create a version that can be taken orally. I strongly suspect that one of the side effects of this treatment is going to be strengthening your body cells to the point that they will resist penetration."

Now Nikola looked intrigued. "Really? Needles won't puncture? Bullets will bounce off of my chest? I always hated being shot." He mused.

Helen smiled. "We'll see."

"Well even if I don't turn into Superman, I'll be…" Nikola paused, seeing Helen's eyebrows rise. "What? Of course I know who Superman is! What do you people think I do when I'm not here? Sleep in a coffin under a church? When did I get this reputation for being out of touch with the times? I created the times!"

Helen was laughing aloud now. She held up a syringe and shook it a little. "Do you mind?" She asked.

"Not at all, my bloodthirsty darling. Please come in and stab me." Nikola beckoned. She pressed the release button for the cell door and stepped in. It closed behind her. Nikola removed his jacket and unclipped his right cufflink, neatly rolling the miraculously unwrinkled linen of his sleeve up to his bicep.

Helen uncapped the syringe and gently pressed the inside of his elbow until she found a vein. "This may sting a bit." She warned in a teasing tone, swabbing the area with an antibacterial wipe.

"Do your worst." Nikola retorted with bravado leaning into her with a smile. "Just like old times." He murmured in her ear with a smirk. Then his face changed, blanked. The air in the room suddenly seemed to hum and several light bulbs shattered overhead. "Helen, get out of here." He said in a hoarse voice. She blinked. He grabbed her arm and an electrical charge shot through her, causing her hair to stand on end. "Go!" He shouted the command, releasing her arm and backing away from her with visible effort.

She scrambled – still holding the syringe – for the keypad at the door. Not fast enough. Nikola pinned her against the clear wall, whirling her to face him, his arms wrapping around her waist and ribs in a bruising embrace. His eyes were wild, his pupils mere pinpoints in the light irises. He bent and kissed her roughly as she struggled against him. She freed her right hand, still gripping the syringe, and jabbed it into his side, depressing the plunger. For several long and terrifying moments he was frozen, crushing the breath from her lungs. Then, his arms loosened and his lips – still pressed against hers – gentled. He pulled back from her and met her gaze with a puzzled expression, his pupils adjusted to normal as he blinked. He looked down at their clinch and slowly smiled.

"Brilliant girl." He whispered in admiration. He glanced at her swollen lips and his eyes darkened with intent. He tilted his head and kissed her again. The hand at her waist moved to tangle in her dark hair and his lips coaxed hers until she sighed and softened her mouth beneath his. They melted together, lips tugging and breaths merging. Her hands rose from her sides to skim over his trim waist and sides, dislodging the syringe in the process and causing him to jerk at the brief pain and loosen his hold on her.

"Doctor, I'm afraid your injection technique needs work…but your bedside manner more than makes up for it." Nikola murmured huskily, brushing back a fall of her dark hair. Helen's face colored and she ducked her head. Nikola caught her chin and lifted her face to meet his darkened gaze. "No no, don't hide from me, Helen Magnus. You can't just kiss a man in a fish bowl for all the world to see and then play the blushing maiden."

"Nikola." Helen said in a chiding tone.

"Mm." He hummed, inspecting her. "The blush really is lovely though. There was a time when your blushes forced me from a room."

She frowned without comprehension.

"All that blood, darling. I wanted to eat you so badly." He smirked and wiggled his brows. "There was only one thing I wanted to do to you more…"

"Saucy." Helen rolled her eyes.

"Call it what you will. My partiality, of which you are doubtless aware, for your lovely…person…has saved your lovely life more than once." Nikola chuckled. "Am I free to go, Doctor?"

"I want to run some tests on your blood."

"Words that couldn't fail to warm a man's heart." Nikola declared. He released her and quickly smoothed his ruffled clothing, unrolling and linking his sleeve and donning his jacket. He offered his elbow to her. "Shall we then to your lab, my love?"

* * *

"Tesla? What brings you here?" Will said with surprise three days later when he walked into his office to find the man in question sprawled gracefully in a chair.

"Helen suggested I pay you a visit. I'm keen on pleasing her, you see, because I depend on her to unlock my door in the morning for the foreseeable future."

"Is there…something you wanted to talk about?' Will asked cautiously. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, _feeling?_ Yes, let's talk about feelings, young man. How do you suppose I'm feeling? I might be a ticking time bomb. I'm being locked away at night. I'm in mourning for the lost mighty race of the Vampires." Nikola sat up smoothly and brushed at some invisible dust on his sleeve.

"You're being flippant but I think a mourning period is appropriate. The vampire qualities, the strength, the speed, the...manicure, you're going to have to live without now." Will said.

"Even with the incredible physical advantages of my vampire self, I was still more brain than brawn. I'll survive." Nikola said dismissively. Then he huffed out a breath of realization and pressed a hand to his stomach. "I'm going to have to start exercising again or my clothes won't fit."

"Welcome to America." Kate said wryly from the doorway. "Home of the Whopper."

"My _dear_, how do you feel?" Nikola gave her a charming smile filled to the brim with concern and contrition. Kate gave him a sour look and moved into the room with the careful pace of someone who is in pain.

"Like I was shoved through a plate glass window by a psychopath." She replied.

"I apologize for that, of course. I wasn't myself." Nikola said with an expansive gesture for her to sit.

"Whatever." Kate said. She sat on the couch gingerly. "You seemed more like yourself than ever, Magneto."

Nikola sighed in disgust. "You are an appalling creature." He said. "All female and no lady."

"Thanks." Kate said smugly.

Nikola's teeth snapped in a fair imitation of their former vampiric way and he cast her a bloody glare but held his tongue. Relaxing back into the chair cushions he languidly crossed a leg over his knee and ignored her, saying to Will, "I think we've made progress, don't you? If this dainty pearl of femininity and grace isn't enough to cause me to explode like Chernobyl - which, by the way, _was an accident_ - then I think Helen's treatment must be working."

"We still haven't established what actually caused the rages." Will reminded him. "They seemed to be unprovoked."

"How can one not be provoked by _her_?" Nikola waved a hand at Kate testily. Will gave him a level look and Nikola relented. "Fine, fine, look into my mind, Doctor Helpless, help me overcome my guilt or forgive my mother or whatever it is that you do here."

"What was your relationship with your mother like?" Will asked, latching onto Tesla's idle remark.

"You're trying_ Freud_ with me? You know he was a humorless quack who couldn't get a date? My mother! Honestly! I told Helen this was a waste of my time." Nikola rose sleekly to his feet. "I have better things to do before the white lab coats take me back to my prison for the evening." He pivoted on his heel and strolled out the door with a grace that belied the swiftness of his movements.

"Mommy issues." Kate whispered with certainty. Will cast a warning glance at her, but ruined it by smiling.

"I heard that." Tesla's voice came from down the corridor. Will and Kate laughed out loud.


	4. Chapter 4

"Your young apprentice asked me about my relationship with my mother." Nikola announced crossly, gliding into the lab and idly examining various instruments and machines. "Are you sure you checked his references?" He deftly adjusted settings and levels of several in-progress experiments without pausing. Helen watched him with a degree of awe. He really was, as he frequently pointed out of himself, a genius.

"Oh, Sigmund wasn't so bad. And you were so awful, teasing him all the time." Helen said comfortably. "He really had no sense of humor and didn't understand you were joking."

"Was I joking? He ruined cigars for me forever and he was a pervert. Always trying to see down your blouse." Nikola declared. He peered into a microscope, his curious energy driving him from station to station.

"As did you, I recall." Helen said wryly.

Nikola grinned at her and held up a finger. "Ahh, but I'm not a pervert."

"That's debatable." She rejoined with a twinkle in her eye.

"I haven't heard any complaints from you in the past few nights." Nikola said confidently, coming up behind her and pulling her back against his chest. He tugged her hair out of the way and kissed her neck. "You smell like heaven." He murmured against her soft skin. "You've no idea how nice it is to do this without getting hungry."

"So nice to hear you've found a silver lining to your devamping." Helen smiled, tilting her head to allow him better access and humming in her throat with pleasure. His clever hands started to wander and she stifled an impulse to moan. Nikola's creativity, cleverness, and confidence extended to his lovemaking, but his selfishness did not. She had been kicking herself since their first night together for resisting him for so many years. She straightened, pulling away from him. "Control yourself, Nikola." She admonished sternly.

"Yes, teacher." He said in a silky tone that brushed down her spine and caused her to shiver.

"Pervert." She accused with a laugh. His eyebrows rose and he grinned.

She walked to a small set of stainless steel shelves and removed a plastic tray of capsules. "I think I've managed to create an effective oral version of the serum. I'd like to try it starting today. You're bending syringes when I give you the injections already and I'd like to start a trial of the drug taken orally to ensure it works before you become too tough to be injected."

Nikola inspected the tray and picked up a capsule between his fingertips to look more closely. "How often should I take it?" He asked.

"I'd like to start with one a day and see if your cells remain intact over the course of a week. The mutation has ceased and I would like to work toward determining how low a dose will maintain your cell structure but still allow a certain level of vulnerability in your skin. I worry about the side effects impermeability might cause." Catching his disappointed expression, Helen shrugged and smiled. "Sorry, Superman." She scooped capsules into a plain prescription bottle and handed it to him.

He took the bottle with his fingertips, held it up and shook it, and tucked it away neatly in an invisible pocket of his jacket. "Have dinner with me." He said.

"Was that a request?" Helen asked, teasing him. "I have dinner with you all the time."

"I mean come _out_ to dinner with me." Nikola clarified impatiently, shifting uncomfortably. "I haven't courted you properly."

"It's a bit late for that, isn't it?" Helen asked. She was bemused by his shift in mood and the sight of the self-assured genius shuffling his feet like a shy suitor.

"It's never too late. It's just a date, Helen. Dinner, conversation, wine, dessert…then we'll come back to the asylum and work it all off." His eyes gleamed at her.

"Alright then." Helen said with a smile, already feeling her body grow warm and her mind wander. "I can be finished here at six."

"I'll come by your rooms at seven." Nikola bowed, a slight tilt from the waist in the old-fashioned European way, and lifted one of her hands to his lips to lightly brush it with a kiss. He smirked at her as if he were reading her mind and strolled out of the lab without turning back.

* * *

Promptly at seven, a firm knock sounded at Helen's door. She slid her feet into her highest high heels and finished fastening an earring as she went to the door. She swung open the door and Nikola stood before her. He was crisp perfection in a tuxedo tailored to a razor fit and an elaborate bouquet of flowers. He wore an expression on his face that told her he knew how good he looked.

"Did you ask me to go out just so you could show off in a tux, Nikola?" Helen teased.

"Ohw!" Nikola exclaimed, clapping a hand over his heart as if mortally wounded. "How offensive. Although I really don't get the opportunity to wear it as often as I'd like to." He glided into the room and circled her, his eyes glowing. "You're beautiful." He said with conviction. "I do prefer the modern styles on you."

Helen looked down at the sapphire blue sheath dress that left her shoulders and legs bare. The nude colored heels made her legs look a mile long, which was why she had paid so much for them. "Too many petticoats before?" She asked, pleased with his compliments.

"And corsets! Lord, what you ladies endured then. Anyway, you're perfect." He said. He held out the bouquet. "These are for you."

Helen took them, recognizing that they came from the Sanctuary gardens. "How lovely! Did you pick and arrange this yourself?" She went to put them into a vase.

"I did." Nikola replied. "I was staying on a commune in the late 60's, laying low, having passionate, indiscriminate sex, and got bored enough to dip my toes into handicrafts. That was rampant back then, of course."

"Sex?" Helen smothered a smile. She placed the flowers in a vase on a low table in front of the fireplace.

"No. Well…yes. But I meant handicrafts. I can also macramé, Papier Mache, weave, and knit. But I tell you all this in the strictest confidence, of course." Nikola smiled.

"Naturally." Helen said soberly. "Shall we go?"

"Beauty before brains." Nikola gestured her through the door first, then stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "I think, in light of your brilliance this week and how splendid I look tonight, we had better proceed together." Helen laughed. He took her hand and they left the room together.

Almost immediately, they encountered Will and Henry waiting for the elevator. Henry, always anxious and uncomfortable in Tesla's presence – perhaps even more than ever since the devamping – actually took a step back when he saw Tesla's hand was clasping Magnus's. Will narrowed his eyes but said evenly. "You look lovely tonight, Helen. Going out for dinner?"

"Thank you, Will. Yes." Helen gave him a Mona Lisa smile, revealing nothing. Nikola gave the two younger men a smug smile.

Henry, as if someone had prodded him, blurted. "You look good."

"_Thank _you." Nikola replied with all the pomp and vanity at his disposal.

"No!" Henry sputtered. "I mean, you look fine. But Magnus! Magnus looks really good." He finished miserably.

"Thank you, Henry." Helen said graciously, giving Tesla an unsubtle elbow in the ribs. He frowned at her elbow and then at her.

"What was that for?" He asked indignantly.

"You're a genius, you tell me." Helen said mildly, smiling at him.

"I can't help it if Tiny…Henry is uncomfortable with me." Nikola said, waving a dismissive hand at Henry. Henry glared at Tesla.

"It would help if you stopped calling him Tiny Tim." Helen pointed out.

"Yes, dear." Tesla sighed a long-suffering breath. The elevator door opened and he ushered Helen into the cubicle with a hand on the small of her back.

Henry and Will, witnessing this exchange, met each other's eyes speculatively and joined the pair of geniuses in the elevator.

"So where are you going to dinner?" Will asked in a conversational tone.

"Felidia." Nikola responded impatiently, not one for small talk.

Henry's eyes widened and he grew bold. "Great place. Pricey. How did you get a table?"

"How does one _always_ get a table? I'm over a hundred and fifty years old. I have more money than God." Said Nikola condescendingly.

Helen rolled her eyes. "Humility thy name is Nikola." She said.

"I've never been there, of course." Will continued, doggedly trying to have a normal conversation with the smirking Serbian. "But I love Italian food. It might be worth a four month wait for a table."

"It's worth it." Henry said in a near-religious tone.

"How is it that you went?" Will asked.

"Girl asked me out." Henry said with a shrug. Seeing the group's collective look of surprise he said defensively. "Hey, some people think werewolves are sexy."

"Man's best friend." Nikola muttered, but he was looking at Henry with something akin to approval now.

"Anyway, if you're into Italian, Felidia is The. Best." Henry declared.

"This will be my first Italian dinner in over eighty years." Nikola mused. "Italian food was always so frustrating to a vampire palate. Looks all rich and red and bloody, smells fabulous, tastes like chalk."

"Really?" Will was intrigued now.

"And, incidentally, Italians themselves a little disappointing in their flavor as well." Nikola added wickedly. Henry's eyes rounded.

"Nikola!" Helen reproached.

"I'm teasing, Helen." Nikola rolled his eyes. "I've never broken a vow I made to you." He said this last sentence in a pointed way.

Helen gave him a narrow look, and then frowned thoughtfully. "You're right, you haven't." Nikola looked appeased. Helen continued. "Henry, he never ate people. He's just being ill-behaved and showing off as usual."

"Ohw!" Nikola said. "You impugn my character." His eyes gleamed with humor and mischief. "I have a mind to cancel our dinner plans and take you back to your room just to punish you."

Will's eyes shifted between the well-dressed couple, catching Helen's rosy blush and quickly smothered smile and Nikola's eyes skimming her with naked ardor. He held up an index finger and pointed between them. "What…is going on here?" He asked slowly.

"Yeahhhh." Henry drew out the word with suspicion.

Helen and Nikola looked at each other cagily.

Nikola sighed. "Helen, I'm afraid we're going to have to have the birds and bees talk with the children earlier than we expected." He said flippantly. The elevator finished its descent and the doors opened. He continued on in a condescending tone. "You see, boys, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much they like to give each other a special hug…"

Helen was in silent hysterical laughter as she dragged Nikola out of the elevator and through the front door of the Sanctuary. Henry and Will exited the elevator with matching expressions of mixed embarrassment, bemused horror, and fascination.

"Really?" Henry said with wonder. "_Tesla?_"

"Women, man." Will said, clapping Henry on the shoulder. "Who knows what they like?" Henry met Will's eyes in consensus and the two friends turned down the corridor toward the dining room.


	5. Chapter 5

"Would you care to see our wine list?" The waiter said solicitously after Helen and Nikola had been seated with their menus.

"We would not." Tesla responded instantaneously. "I'd like to know what single bottles the sommelier has in private reserve. Reds in particular. In fact, just send him over."

The waiter smiled with more excitement than professional decorum allowed, tonight's tip would be worth the dismissive arrogance of the gentleman diner. "Very good, sir. I'll relay the message to the sommelier to join you."

Nikola saw Helen's meaningful frown and said. "What?"

"You catch more flies with honey." Helen said.

"Your premise in that statement, I suppose, is that I _want_ to catch flies. The whole purpose of waitstaff is to serve. Do you want me to make friends with our waiter? Perhaps invite him to join us for dinner?" Nikola said sarcastically.

"Common courtesy would be enough, I should think." Helen said with a chuckle. She inspected the menu and Nikola did the same.

"Do I like risotto?" He asked. "Or do I hate it?"

"You like risotto, you hate ravioli." Helen reminded him.

"Oh yes, _ravioli_." He shuddered. "Meat pockets."

"You should try the puttanesca, it's a relatively new dish. Well, new since you last had taste buds anyway."

"Puttanesca? Does that mean what I think it does?" Nikola asked with fascination.

"You speak Italian every bit as well as I do. You know very well what it means." Helen said primly.

"Then I'll have that." Nikola said, clapping his menu closed briskly. "Where's that sommelier?"

"_That sommelier_ is here, sir." Said a very young woman, approaching at his elbow.

Nikola quickly masked his surprise. "You? Hm." He looked her over, nonplussed. "How old are you?"

"Nikola." Helen chided.

"Old enough to lie about my age." The sommelier said mildly, her eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Old enough to drink wine?" Nikola countered, unimpressed.

"Certainly, sir. Older than you might think." The woman replied. "I'm Prisca Ferko, Senior Sommelier here at Felidia, I understand you are interested in my private reserve of reds."

"Senior...?" Nikola whispered, his eyes narrowing. He quickly smoothed his features. "Yes, I'd like to know what you have in your cellars that would complement your puttanesca."

"Is cost a concern?" The sommelier asked frankly. "I ask to ensure that I make proper recommendations."

"Cost isn't a problem." Nikola replied in a bored tone.

"I have the 1995 Chateaux Margeaux. It is quite elegant, a compact fruitiness, smooth, powerful, racy, with fragrances of blackberry and cassis. I also have one bottle of the 1986 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac. Very palatable with an elongated aftertaste. Reminiscent of chocolate, raspberries, and spices." The sommelier paused. "Shall I go on?"

Nikola had been hanging on her words and had reached across the table to hold Helen's hand during the recitation. He smiled silkily. "Bring both." He said.

The sommelier blinked, then gave a gracious smile. "Of course. I'll also be happy to inform chef of your orders. Puttanesca?" She said, looking between them.

"Please." Helen replied. The sommelier whisked away the menus and glided toward the kitchens.

"She's an abnormal." Nikola declared.

Helen laughed. "Just because she's a bit young for her job?"

"Prisca, from the Latin...?" Nikola said, leaving the end of his sentence trailing. He raised his eyebrows at Helen to finish his thought.

"_Priscus_. Ancient." Helen completed the translation.

"Very good." Nikola said.

Helen still looked amused. "It's a common enough name in Hungary. Her last name is Ferko. Ancient French?" She translated the last name as well.

"Laugh at me." Nikola sighed dramatically. Helen laughed. He toyed with her fingers, still held in his. "I do like to hear you happy, Miss Magnus, even at my expense." He said in a low voice. He kept his eyes focused on their hands and Helen was surprised to see a small amount of color on his cheekbones.

Helen's face blossomed into a smile. "You gave me a new reason to be happy, Mister Tesla. To your credit." She laced her fingers with his and he raised his eyes to hers. They gazed at one another, finally looking their fill after over a century of hidden glances.

"Do you know...this is going to be complicated." Nikola said lightly, retreating slightly behind his smooth mask. "I'll eventually convince you to marry me, perhaps in another fifty years or so, and then we'll be stuck with one another forever. Two immortal - well, infinitely prolonged anyway - beings cannot swear to only part in death."

"Marry you?" Helen said a little breathlessly, hearing the serious tone under his flippant remarks.

"Oh, you'd say no today because who knows if I still might not explode and kill everyone here. But I've got all the time in the world and I've gotten awfully good at waiting for you." Nikola shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm quite loyal, you know, when I choose to be."

"Would I say no?" Helen mused, half to herself.

"Let's find out." Nikola gracefully rose and circled the table, starting to kneel before Helen swatted his arm.

"Nikola!" She hissed. "You and your theatrics. Sit down, for pity's sake."

He gave her a toothy grin, his eye twinkling. "I knew it!" He declared, not the least bit put out. He returned to his seat. "Well, it's for the best. I haven't gotten you a ring yet."

"Can we discuss something else? Something serious?" Helen asked in exasperation.

"This isn't serious? Helen, you wound me." Nikola smirked. "Here I am, offering myself to you on the altar of matrimony and you..."

The sommelier arrived with her assistant carrying two plain bottles, effectively cutting off Tesla's monologue.

Tesla went through the ritual of uncorking, sniffing, tasting, rolling his eyes in ecstasy, and badgering the sommelier before they were left alone with two uncorked bottles between them. Tesla poured a splash from each bottle into the two glasses set out for Helen. "We'll have to give it a while before it really opens up, but taste this." He drew out the word 'taste' in a reverent tone.

Helen sipped each dutifully and was surprised by how transporting the flavors were. "Mmm." She said, nodding. "Wonderful."

"I know." Tesla said in true enjoyment. He poured similarly small amounts into his two stemmed glasses and sipped, closing his eyes and groaning in a way that Helen, blushing, now recognized as Nikola experiencing deep pleasure. His eyes opened and grinned. "My God, wine is sexy." He declared. He scooped up her hand from the table and kissed the palm, then the wrist. His eyes were glowing and full of intentions. Helen was fascinated, aroused, then suddenly a shock traveled up her arm and the air crackled around her.

"No, no. Nikola, not now!" She said in horror.

"Helen." He said in a whisper, his eyes changing, dilating to blank pale gray. "We have to go. Now."

Helen sprang up and dragged him from him seat, getting another hair-raising charge of electromagnetic energy. The sommelier was approaching to check their progress and looked surprised as they bolted past her.

"Ma'am?" The sommelier said.

"He's unwell." Helen said urgently, she was pulling him with one arm and digging into her purse with her other hand.

The sommelier quickly assessed the situation and said in a low tone. "Come with me." She took Nikola's other arm, jumping slightly at the shock she received, and the two women pulled him into the wine cupboard.

Just in time, for now Tesla threw his head back and a pulse of energy exploded from him, shattering wine bottles. From the restaurant, shouts could be heard as glasses and light bulbs exploded. Metal trays jerked, silverware whizzed, whirling in the magnetic storm Tesla was producing. He turned toward Helen and grabbed her arm, zapping her again. Helen produced a prepared syringe from her purse and jabbed it at his neck. The syringe bent against his skin without puncturing it.

The sommelier looked on with an unreadable expression. Then she stepped forward, pushing into the fray. "Let me." She said. She pulled off her white sommelier's gloves and grabbed either side of Tesla's face between her palms. Her body jerked with another shock but, immediately, Tesla collapsed into Helen's arms. She crumpled under his weight, bearing them both to the floor.

Helen knelt in a puddle of wine, Tesla's head against her chest, and the sommelier pulled her gloves back on.

"You're an abnormal." Helen said. Prisca Ferko shrugged.

"Told you." Nikola said, opening his eyes. He frowned. "What happened?"

"You exploded my stock." Prisca said.

Nikola scrambled up and reached to raise Helen to her feet. He looked around at the damage to the wine cupboard. "This is the just the house wine, right?" He said hopefully.

"Yes, the good stuff is in the cellar. You better hope you didn't explode that." Prisca smiled. "You two get out of here. I'll send you a bill."

Nikola winced and nodded. "Thank you."

Helen handed the young woman a card. "Send it to this address, or bring it by yourself. I'd very much like to chat with you." She said.

"I might do that." Prisca smiled and tucked the card into her skirt pocket.


	6. Chapter 6

Nikola Tesla woke the next morning. He immediately felt the rush of anxious happiness he had been feeling every morning for the past several days because Helen Magus was curled around him in his bed. Soft, warm, trusting, and clinging to him in her sleep with one arm twined around his waist and her head pillowed on his chest. He swallowed hard against the swell of emotion he felt and gave a shuddering sigh, closing one arm around her and stroking her back. She purred and burrowed closer in her sleep. He tilted his head up and gazed at her. She had a small frown on her face, like she was trying to solve the world's problems even in her sleep. As if sensing his gaze, she opened her eyes, blinked, and smiled sleepily. "Hello." She said in a scratchy, sleep roughened voice.

"Good morning." Nikola whispered, his own voice hoarse from sleep. He cleared his throat. Helen moved to sit up, but he stayed her with one arm wrapped around her. He rolled to his side and drew her against him, holding her tight. She melted into him.

"Who knew that Nikola Tesla would be so _cuddly_?" She said in an amused and muffled voice against his chest.

"I would've been happy to demonstrate at any point during the last hundred-odd years. I thought I'd made myself clear on that point." Nikola replied. He sighed. "It's a good thing you're so pretty because you aren't very bright."

Helen burst into laughter. "You're right. I take full responsibility." Helen said. She tilted her face away from his chest and looked up at him. "How do you feel this morning?"

"Frustratingly normal." Nikola sighed, frowning. "I can't say there are any after effects of these attacks at all."

"The tests we ran last night after our return were all normal as well. That is to say, normal for you anyway. The drug seems to be working, but you still had an episode." Helen pulled away and sat up to look down at him. He looked elegant, slimly muscled and pale, bare-chested with wild hair and sleepy eyes. She smiled at him, thinking him beautiful. He grinned as if he were reading her mind again.

"Make up your mind, Helen. Talk business and stop looking at me like you'd like to eat me or...stop talking business." He said, his voice low and silky. "I'd be happy to weigh in on the decision if it will help you." He offered.

"I'll bet you would." She chuckled, leaned forward and pecked him on the lips pertly. His hand shot up to cup the back of her head and he dragged her back down to him. She sprawled across his body and he quickly reversed their positions, pinning her beneath him.

"Have you made a decision yet?" He said breathlessly kissing her on the tender spot under her ear, his skillful hands moving over her in a way that made her mind go blank.

"What?" She said vaguely.

"Hmm, I agree." He said with satisfaction thick in his voice. He reached for the hem of her nightgown and then swore vilely in Croatian. Helen blinked with surprise before she too heard the knocking on the bedroom door. "Go away." Nikola snapped.

"Uh, Magnus?" Henry's voice, an agony of embarrassment, came through the door. "Is she in there? I, uh, checked her room and the lab but…"

"I'm here." Helen said on a sigh. "What is it?"

"The Big Guy said there's a girl here to see you. Prisca Ferko?" Henry said, his voice still betraying the excruciating awkwardness he was feeling.

"I'll be down in fifteen minutes. Will you ask him to set her up in my office and ask if tea and breakfast can be sent up, please?" Helen said.

"Sure thing. Uh, sorry about…"

"Nevermind, Henry. Thank you for finding me." Helen cut him off. She sighed then looked up at Nikola's face. "Sorry, Niko."

Nikola bent and kissed her thoroughly. "You can make it up to me later." His eyes gleamed. He let her get up.

"Hmm, maybe I'll do that." Helen smiled. She found her robe and put it on. She went into Nikola's en suite bathroom, splashed water on her face and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Do you mind if I join you and the sommelier? I'd like to know what she did to me last night." Nikola asked with uncharacteristic politeness. Helen glanced up to find that he was somehow already wearing most of a three piece suit.

"Not at all. I think that's a good idea." She replied. Nikola was now completely dressed and standing by the bedroom door. "Go on ahead and see if she would like breakfast, I'll be there as soon as I dress."

"I need you to let me out." Nikola said in a grudging tone.

"Oh!" Helen went to the door and typed a code into a keypad. The lock clicked and Nikola smoothly exited the room.

Helen left to her rooms and hurriedly dressed. She entered her office ten minutes later to find Nikola Tesla playing charming host. The young sommelier, Prisca Ferko, was laughing at something he was saying and both looked up with smiles when Helen entered. Nikola's smile looked considerably more mischievous than the girl's. They were both drinking tea and eating English muffins. The girl was quite lovely now that she was not wearing the severe black and tight hairstyle she wore at the restaurant. She had very thick and wavy dark blonde hair and light brown eyes. She was slim as a reed and quite graceful in spite of being casually dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt with a battered-looking black leather jacket. She was also wearing thin silk gloves the color of peaches.

"Helen, marvelous news!" Nikola said with enthusiasm. "I only destroyed inferior wine last night. It really would've pricked my conscience if I had shattered any superior bottles. Like destroying a Van Gogh."

"It would've pricked your wallet too." Helen said wryly. The sommelier laughed. Nikola scowled at both of them.

Prisca dug into her purse and retrieved a thick cream colored envelope. "Speaking of that, I've itemized the damage here. I only accounted for replacement costs of the lost stock and various glassware items you shattered in the dining room. It is all wholesale, which helps a great deal." She handed the envelope to Tesla, who opened it and scanned the pages. His eyebrows rose and he laughed.

"My dear child, your wine merchant has betrayed you. Remind me to get you a card for my source before you go." He glided toward the door, still perusing the papers. "I'll just retrieve my wallet." He said and disappeared into the corridor.

"Ice wouldn't melt on him, would it?" The young woman asked Helen frankly, watching him go. "That's a bill for over ten thousand dollars."

"Nikola is a rather wealthy man." Helen said simply. "I apologize for not introducing myself last night. I'm Helen Magnus. I'm so glad you came to visit us, Miss Ferko."

"Prisca, please. Yes, what is this place? Some kind of group hospital?" She asked.

"The Sanctuary has many purposes. We do have medical facilities here, yes." Helen replied as she poured herself some tea and took a toasted English muffin from the tray on the table. "We specialize in abnormals, people like you and Nikola…and me."

"What can you do?" Prisca asked.

"Nothing like what you and Niko can do." Helen laughed.

"Yes, he said his name is Nikola Tesla. I had no idea..." Prisca said, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, he is _the_ Nikola Tesla. I'm sure he will be more than happy to tell you all about it, he is rather proud of himself." Helen said with a laugh.

"I can't believe I didn't recognize him." Prisca said. "I met him at a party. He made a bit of a display of himself."

"I can imagine." Helen sighed.

"But I had no idea that he…well it explains why he was so unconcerned about offending such heavily armed people. It was during the War, you see. The first one."

"Ah, so you _are_ older than you look." Helen smiled.

"Considerably." Prisca grinned. "I was born during the Thirty Years War."

"Good heavens! You're older than either of us!" Magnus said with wide eyes. "That was…"

"About 1565, give or take. Hungarian peasants weren't great at keeping track of birthdays." Prisca said. "You said 'either of us'. Are you also…?"

"She's one hundred and fifty seven years old, but she doesn't look a day over one forty, wouldn't you say?" Nikola said, returning at that moment and handing an envelope containing a check to Prisca. He perched on the arm of the chair Helen was sitting in and grinned. "Well, I find myself in the unusual position of being the youngest person in the room. I'm a mere hundred and fifty-five. Practically a child. I did always like older women." He said with a gleaming look down at Helen. She rolled her eyes.

"_Child_, indeed." She said with a smile.

Prisca was taking all this in with great interest. "How is it that you're…adults? I stopped maturing immediately after puberty. Perpetually seventeen." She sighed.

"I suspect your gift was a result of natural genetic mutation, whereas Nikola and I have a different story." Helen replied. "Tell me, what did you do to him last night when you put your hands on his face?"

"Oh, I just absorbed the currents he was creating." Prisca shrugged. "With him, it just siphoned off some of the excess energy. But, if I were to touch someone with a bad heart, for example, I'd suck the electricity right out of them and kill them. Normally there isn't a problem, although I can weaken a healthy person with prolonged contact – say more than fifteen minutes or so."

"Fascinating." Helen and Nikola breathed in unison.

"It started about the same time I stopped aging. I sort of…absorb electricity…even if it's someone's life energy. I think that's why I don't grow old or die." The girl looked embarrassed and unhappy. "That sounds horrible, but I don't do it on purpose. It just happens automatically. I try to keep from directly contacting people so I can minimize the effect." She held up her gloved hands.

"Of course you aren't doing anything wrong." Helen said reassuringly. "May I ask you a favor?"

"Of course." Prisca said.

"May I run some tests and take some blood samples from you? You see, we're trying to find a permanent solution to Nikola's…" Helen paused trying to find the right word.

"Overload problem?" The young woman provided. "I don't mind at all."

Nikola had been listening intently to Prisca's story and spoke up. "I'll do the tests and draw the blood." He said firmly. "I have energy to spare so being in contact with her won't hurt me."

Helen hesitated, considering this, then nodded. "I'll observe." She said.

Prisca rose fluidly from her seat and moved lightly to the door. "Well? Shall we?" She said. "I've got to be at work at three."

Helen frowned, something about the girl was nagging her mind, but the meaning eluded her. She rose and led Prisca and Nikola to her laboratory.


	7. Chapter 7

Kate strode into Will's office and began talking without preamble. "Did you hear the latest from Magnus?"

Will held up a finger and then pointed with a frown at the phone he held to his ear. "Uh huh. Well how long will that take? Hmm. Let me think about it and call you back. Thank you for your help." He hung up the phone and said, "I'm looking to having some Tesla-proof backup systems installed in the Shoe for Magnus. Even the backup to the backup generator is made of metal that can be magnetized."

"Maybe we won't need it. Maybe he'll leave." Kate suggested. She dropped into a chair facing Will.

"Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen." Will said with a very male smirk. Kate narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "So what's the _latest from Magnus_?" Will asked.

"The girl they found?" She replied.

"What girl?" Will asked.

"She absorbs electric, or electromagnetic, energy. She took down Tesla in full Mister Hyde mode last night. She has to wear gloves so she doesn't steal people's lives." Kate rolled her eyes. "So, it's official now. We're the freaking X-men."

Will rubbed a hand over his face, smothering a laugh. "Is the girl here?"

Kate shrugged. "In the lab with Magnus and Doctor Jekyll."

"I'm going to go check on them." Will rose and nodded his head toward Kate. "Want to come?"

"Yeah, thanks but no thanks. I think I'll give it a miss until the sutures come out." Kate said drily.

Will raised his eyebrows thoughtfully and nodded. "I get that." He said. "I'll let you know what I find out."

"Yeah, pay the gossip forward, Zimmerman." Kate said. She gave him a grin and followed him out the door of his office where they went opposite directions, Will to the lab and Kate to anywhere else.

* * *

Nikola was competently running a hospital gown clad Prisca through a series of medical tests while Magnus examined samples of the girl's blood and observed the reaction of Nikola's cells with Prisca's.

Helen was surprised by how quickly Nikola had taken to the girl. Of course, wine was a mutually adored subject, but he seemed to be treating Prisca with none of his usual contempt and indifference. He was actually telling humorous anecdotes and listening to the girl's stories. He was being...charming. They were even speaking in an extinct Hungarian dialect and Helen could only understand pieces of their conversation. Helen felt a pang of jealousy and gave herself a firm mental shake. "She's seventeen for all intents and purposes, get a grip, Helen." She muttered herself and went back to her tests. The computer had finished creating a genetic map of Prisca's DNA and it beeped to alert her. Helen scanned the results and frowned. She double checked the data. "Curious." She murmured.

"Just finished. She's dressing. What's curious?" Tesla had approached so silently that she hadn't noticed and she jumped slightly.

"Look." Helen gestured at the computer screen. Tesla gracefully circled the desk and stood behind her chair, absently toying with the ends of her hair. He looked at the monitor and immediately frowned.

"That's not right. You made a mistake." He said in an annoyed and arrogant tone. He scooted her, in the rolling office chair, out of his way and rapidly re-analyzed the data and results. Helen pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest, waiting. He muttered to himself in irritation until finally turning to her. "These results are correct." He said it like an accusation.

"Mm." Helen said, allowing herself smile smugly to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Tesla ran an agitated hand through his hair until it stood completely on end. "This _can't_ be accurate!" He said vehemently, gesturing at the monitor.

"What can't be accurate?" Prisca asked, entering the room still pulling on her jacket. Tesla gestured to the computer screen and Prisca looked at the lines of information blankly. "Why, what does that mean?" She said.

"It's good news." Helen said firmly. "It should be quite easy to find a solution to Nikola's problem using your genes." Helen paused, watching the girl. "Because you're close matrilineal blood relatives of one another."

Prisca's eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth. She looked at Tesla, burst into tears, and launched herself into his arms.

"Helen!" Nikola said, turning to Helen with a panicked look. He held his arms away from the girl, who clung to him in tears. Helen sat with an amused and fascinated expression on her face.

At that fraught and awkward moment, Will Zimmerman walked into the lab. He glanced around, smiled politely, and said. "I'll come back later." He spun on his heel and left the way he had come without anyone acknowledging him.

"You're here." Prisca whispered, sniffling. She pulled her face away from Nikola's chest and stroked his cheeks gently with her gloved hands. She hiccupped a laugh. "Look at you." She said, beaming through her tears at him. "_Look _at you!"

Nikola's eyebrows seemed to be stuck in the 'up' position, baffled by Prisca's outburst. He gently removed her hands from his face and took a measured step away from her. He cleared his throat, glanced at Helen with a still-alarmed look on his face, and said. "Please explain, Miss Ferko."

She clasped his hands, smiling at him with shining eyes. He shifted uncomfortably and guided her to a chair across from Helen. She sat and he swiftly straightened his appearance, looking askance at the tear-dampened spot on his silk necktie. He stepped behind Helen's chair putting her between himself and Prisca and eyed the girl warily. He snatched Helen's hand and gripped it like a security blanket. Helen smothered a smile at him, never having seen him so very ruffled before, and said. "We don't understand, Prisca, please do explain."

Prisca was still weeping happily, but she nodded, taking several deep breaths to steady herself. "I'd be glad to explain, Doctor Magnus. I'm just…very happy. And I'm very happy I can help Nikola."

Nikola looked freshly alarmed at her use of his first name, but collected himself and smoothed his expression into his trademark aloof smirk. "I gather you don't think we're seventh cousins fifteen times removed?" He said drily.

Prisca shook her head and beamed. "I do know what 'matrilineal' means." She said. "It means I'm your grandmother, Nikola, _it means she lived_." With these last words, she dissolved into happy hysterical tears again.

Nikola finally sighed testily, removed a clean handkerchief from his breast pocket and approached Prisca only close enough to hold it out to her. She took it and blotted her face, taking several deep shuddering breaths into the silk. "Thank you." She whispered and gazed up at Nikola with that same expression of love that so unsettled him moments before.

He retreated quickly behind Helen again. He placed a hand on her shoulder as if needing the connection and bent to hiss in her ear. "That girl is unbalanced."

Helen shook her head and patted Nikola's hand on her shoulder. "I hate to say it, but I'm afraid she's probably right. She certainly isn't your _grandmother_, but she may be your grandmother seventeen or eighteen generations removed, Nikola. At any rate, she's family."

"_Family_." Nikola repeated as if the word tasted bad. He was still warily watching Prisca and stroking his fingers over Helen's shoulder.

"Family." Helen smiled. "And I think she's the solution to your problem. So you'd better be polite."


	8. Chapter 8

Prisca now had herself in hand and smiled crookedly at the two scientists. "I'm sorry; I was just so…overwhelmed." She turned to Nikola. "I promise I won't attack you again…or keep your picture in my wallet to show to strangers or send you checks for twelve dollars on your birthday." She smirked at him, raising her brows coolly.

Helen nearly laughed out loud. The thing had been bothering her before was suddenly now perfectly clear. Prisca's slim, languid grace and facial expressions were comically identical to Nikola's.

Nikola huffed out a laugh and relaxed visibly but still remained a safe distance from Prisca. "I want explanations." He ordered, recovering his aplomb. He pointed at Helen. "First you." He pointed at Prisca. "Then you."

Helen gave him an exasperated look but began. "I thought the mutations and the surges of energy were linked. After I saw Prisca's genes I remembered a difference in your episode from last night. There was no rage - it was _only_ a power surge. You grabbed my arm, but you weren't attacking me."

"Ah!" Nikola said, his face lighting. "The mutation was causing the rages, which allowed the power surges to happen."

"And I did cure you of the mutation, but the surges continued." Helen nodded. Prisca listened, only partially understanding. "If I synthesized Prisca's cell proteins for your medication, you would still be able to take it because of your close relationship, but it would also neutralize power overloads. Look." Helen scooted back to the desk and typed rapidly on the keyboard of her computer. Lines of data appeared. Nikola smiled, immediately understanding.

"Brilliant, _brilliant_ girl." He said, echoing himself. His eyes gleamed at Helen with deep interest. She blushed and her cheeks dimpled.

"I don't understand." Prisca said with a frown. "Explain it again?"

"Of course." Helen said. "You see, your gift is latent. You absorb energy even if you aren't trying to. Because you are so genetically compatible with Nikola, I can make a serum from your cell proteins and it will adhere to Nikola's cells, preventing the rage mutation. As a bonus, I believe the serum made from your protein will dampen Nikola's excess energy if he starts to have an overload."

"Amazing! You're both so…smart." The girl said. She looked proudly at Nikola. Then she asked. "Will he still be able to _use_ his power?"

"Yes, I believe so. He's able to control it most of the time now. It only becomes dangerous when the energy builds inside of him. Your proteins will be like the surge protector on a power strip. The power strip still gives out as much energy as is needed, but won't overload. At any rate, the medication breaks down over time, so we can experiment with the dose." Helen explained. "Does that help?"

"I understand." Prisca nodded. Her eyes kept sliding back to Tesla and she finally blurted. "I'm sorry, but you look so like…I can't believe I didn't see it before. I just never thought…" Her eyes shone with the beginnings of happy tears.

"Stop that!" Tesla said sharply, pointing at her with one artistic finger and a scowl. "Now, _you_ explain." He briskly dragged another rolling chair over next to Helen and sat, pulling one of Helen's hands over to clasp between his in his lap.

Prisca steadied herself with a deep breath, opened her mouth then looked perplexed. "I don't know where to begin."

"Begin at the beginning." Helen encouraged.

Prisca began at the beginning.

"I was born in the village of Drauus, in Hungary, during the Thirty Years War. I grew up there and, when I was fifteen, I met my husband. He was a stranger, a merchant, and I barely knew him before we married. He was very…" She smirked and met Helen's eyes. Prisca's eyes gleamed in uncanny resemblance to Nikola's.

"Oh." Helen said, her eyes twinkling. "Very?"

"_Very_." Prisca confirmed as they shared a secret feminine smile. "We loved each other. His name was Bela Ferko and, well it's hard to believe, but he was a_ vampire_."

"Actually, that's rather easy to believe." Helen replied drily with a sidelong glance at Nikola, who was looking smug.

"We were married quickly and moved to his estate in Budapest. Such luxury!" Her eyes grew vague as the memories played in her mind. "I had a child, a boy, who we also called Bela. He was so weak, he lived only four months." Prisca swallowed hard and took another deep breath. "But very soon I found I was pregnant again and this time the child, our daughter Beata, was strong. I was about seventeen then and shortly after Beata's birth the change came to my body. I could no longer become pregnant, I was no longer mortal, I was unchanging. You say it was a mutation?"

"Very likely just like any other abnormal. Symptoms and indicators of abnormality can set in at any time." Helen nodded. "It can be difficult to learn to live with a new and unexpected change."

"Well, Bela didn't mind, in fact, I think he was thrilled." Prisca laughed. "We had our daughter and now his wife wouldn't grow old and die, which he had worried about. We were so happy for five years. Then the church…the zealots started hunting the vampires. They found us. They took Bela away and…and I never saw him again."

Tesla made a sound like a growl.

"They said Beata was an abomination before God. They took her away from me. They called me a whore of Satan." Prisca's voice was no more than a monotone recitation, her eyes dry. "I was sent to a convent. It didn't take many years before my…abnormality…became apparent. I didn't know it, but I was killing the elderly nuns when I tried to care for them. I was called a murderess, a witch. I was imprisoned, convicted and…I was burned."

Helen's swift gasp of horror filled the room. Tesla slid an arm around her shoulders.

"They thought I was dead. _I_thought I was dead. I was thrown onto the refuse pile of the prison. I lay there for…perhaps days, I'm not sure." Prisca shrugged. "I didn't die. But I had no reason to live. They had taken Bela and Beata from me. I tried to find out what had happened to my daughter. I hoped she could still be alive. But I found nothing. _Nothing_. It was just as if she had never been born. They erased my daughter."

Helen laid her head and wept softly on Nikola's shoulder, the girl's story of loss too close to her own heart for her to bear. Having been subjected to an onslaught of feminine tears in the last twenty minutes and having very little experience on the matter, Nikola patted her hair and cleared his throat before awkwardly saying. "There, there." He turned to Prisca and pushed her to the conclusion. "Can I assume then, that you didn't locate your child but that she must have lived to produce her own children, et cetera ad nauseum, culminating in my own birth?"

Prisca nodded, her face lighting up. "It must mean that, mustn't it? Twenty lifetimes I've wondered and, suddenly, here you are. "

"I suppose so." Tesla admitted grudgingly. He looked down at Helen, who was composing herself. "I think we've had quite enough catching up with old relations for today." He announced decisively.

Prisca looked between the two scientists and said. "I agree. Look, I have to go to work. Can I come back tomorrow?"

Helen cleared her throat, smiled at the girl, and nodded. "Yes, please do. I suspect we still have a lot to discuss which will help us understand Nikola's gifts. I'll walk you out." All three stood up.

"Thank you.' Prisca turned to Nikola and frowned. "May I hug you? I've waited a very long time to hold my child."

Nikola sighed, looking put out. "Make it quick." He said. He held his arms out and submitted to Prisca's fierce embrace with a martyred expression on his face.

When the girl stepped back she said. "Thank you."

"I live to serve." Nikola said with a dry expression. "And I have it on excellent authority that I'm quite cuddly."

Prisca gave him a long look of disbelief. Helen chuckled and gave Nikola a censuring look. "This way, dear." Helen said and guided Nikola's ancestress out of the lab.


	9. Chapter 9

News of Tesla's newly found family member spread over the Sanctuary at a speed only gossip can achieve. Nikola found the whole matter incredibly irritating, in spite of extremely positive results from his first doses of Prisca-based medication. He stood in his lab, fussing over a new prototype of a weapon charged by electromagnetic currents and muttering to himself when Kate burst in with Henry in tow.

"So where's Granny Tesla?" Kate said, a little nastily. "We heard she was here."

"I just came with her." Henry pointed at Kate, firmly choosing to be a coward while Tesla held what appeared to be a phaser from Star Trek.

Nikola scowled at the two intruders, then, ignoring them, returned to his muttering and puttering. Kate crossed her arms and stood her ground stubbornly. After two minutes ticked past, Tesla stopped what he was doing and looked at Kate and Henry mildly. "Oh, are you still here?" He asked with an air of disgust.

"We just want a chance to meet Grandma, that's all." Kate said, her tone challenging.

"I presume she's with Helen somewhere." Nikola waved a vague hand, as if shooing them out of the door.

Henry frowned, his expression somewhat sad. "You aren't spending any time with her?" He asked.

"I saw her yesterday." Tesla said with a shrug.

"That's cold, man." Kate said, shaking her head. "Will said she's been searching for her family for, like, five hundred years and you're not even going to hang out with her?"

"Two immortal beings hardly need to rush through introductions." Said Prisca, coming abruptly through the door. She gave Tesla a grin and a nod, indicating whose side she was on. Nikola, surprised, grinned back.

Kate and Henry turned and saw Prisca for the first time. Kate looked surprised at Prisca's appearance and age. Henry looked stunned. Prisca smirked at Kate then looked at Henry. The smirk vanished.

"Hey." Said Henry, his eyes round. He held out his hand

"Hi." She replied, taking his offered hand. "I'm Prisca."

"Yeah, Tesla's…uh…"

"Great, great, great…great…grandmother." Prisca finished.

"Great." Henry breathed. Then they noticed they were still holding hands at the same moment and jumped apart. Prisca blushed. Kate and Tesla met one another's gazes with, for once, shared consternation and alarm.

"I'm Henry." Henry said, recovering himself and giving Prisca a charming male smile. "Nice to meet you."

"You too." She said, dipping her eyelashes and smiling.

"Hey. Tiny." Tesla snarled. "Stop _flirting_ with my…my grandmother." He finished with a sputter. He swept around the lab table and whisked by Henry and Kate to stand in front of Prisca. "What do you want?" He asked her briskly.

"Oh, I don't know." Prisca rolled her eyes at him and pretended to ponder the question. "To spend time with my only living family member and offspring? Whom I've spent many, many lifetimes searching for?" Prisca said, raising one eyebrow at him.

"Well, you _must_ be a female relative. I've known you exactly forty-eight hours and you are already trying to make me feel guilty." Tesla said drily. "Well, come on then, Nana. Let's catch up on all those missed Christmases and birthdays." He grabbed her upper arm and pulled her out of the lab and away.

"Holy crap." Kate said.

"Seriously." Henry agreed. His lips curved into a smile.

* * *

"What kind of girl are you?" Tesla lectured in an irritated tone, still hauling her by the arm into the Sanctuary gardens. "You married a vampire and now you're flirting with a werewolf? Do you have any common sense at all?"

"Doctor Magnus tells me that you were lately a vampire." Prisca said pointedly.

"I _was_ one, I didn't marry one." Tesla distinguished haughtily, letting her arm go. "How on earth have you managed the last few centuries? You dress like a hobo, flirt with mangy puppies, and generally have the worst taste in everything…except wine."

"And relatives?" Prisca said, raising her eyebrows at him.

"I suspect you're withholding judgment on that one." Tesla said wryly.

"If I had any common sense, I would." Prisca said with a smirk. Tesla scoffed then laughed, surprising himself. He blinked.

"I like you." He said, pointing at her with a measuring look.

"I like you, too." Prisca said, smiling at him. "I…I've lived so many years hoping for this moment, but, you know…it's pretty weird."

"Yes, _weird_, indeed." Nikola echoed. He cleared his throat. "I had, of course, traced my vampire genealogy as far back as possible but never considered the human side."

"Which isn't as human as you thought." Prisca finished.

"True." Nikola said. He frowned in thought. "I'm sure I'll see you later." He said, and abruptly left her standing alone in absolute surprise on the lawn.

* * *

"I have a theory!" Nikola announced, barging smoothly into Helen Magnus's office and walking to stand facing her with his back to Bigfoot, with whom she had obviously been in conversation.

"Nikola! Manners." Helen said with an exasperated look.

Nikola sighed and rolled his eyes. He looked up over his shoulder at the ape man. "Beat it, Fluffy. I'll send a note of apology later." He said. The Big Guy growled and shook his head in disbelief at the smaller man's arrogance, but left the room. Tesla turned back to Helen. "Happy?"

"No." She replied. "You really are such an obnoxious prima donna sometimes, Nikola."

"Only _sometimes_? You really _are_ in love with me, aren't you?" Nikola smirked. Helen sighed, defeated by logic.

"So what's this theory that's so important that common courtesy had to be crucified?" She asked.

Tesla grinned like a maniac. "_I am an abnormal_." He said holding his hands out as if presenting this news on a platter.

"Honestly, Nikola." Helen said in vexation. "There had better be more or I'm putting you back in the Shoe to dry out your sauciness."

Nikola's grin broadened. "I knew you had bondage fantasies."

"Focus." Helen ordered. Realizing with a shake of her head that this conversation was a replay of the day she was tied up in a closet by Tesla's teenaged vampire creations.

"I always assumed my abnormalities were a result of the Source blood. I now believe that the Source blood simply brought out my latent vampire traits, but that I was already an abnormal." Tesla was now briskly wandering the office in his excitement.

"Go on." Helen said, leaning back in her chair and listening intently, pondering.

"This ancestor of mine, Bela Ferko, was a vampire. But the girl is also an abnormal." Nikola stated. "Is it not possible that I was already an abnormal when I took the Source, but my abilities hadn't yet emerged?"

Helen's eyes narrowed shrewdly and she said. "That is _entirely_ possible. It would explain so much about your reaction to the Source blood. The changes you experienced and the abilities you developed were…"

"Better than everyone else's?" Nikola said merrily. He grinned. "Yes, I think so too."

"You are impossible." Helen said, shaking her head and smiling. Nikola gazed at her smiling face. Her eyes were smiling at him, Nikola Tesla. He was suddenly and utterly humbled by this woman's love.

"I'm not impossible. I'm actually incredibly easy when it comes to you. You are so…distractingly lovely." Nikola said in a husky tone, his eyes now shining and intent. He glided around her desk and sat on the edge of it, facing her. His eyes searched her wide-eyed face. Then he leaned in and kissed her with a passionate hunger that stole her breath.

When he drew back, she blinked owlishly and said breathlessly. "Well, what has gotten into you?"

"_You've_ gotten into me." He murmured against her mouth. "But I'd vastly prefer it if we reversed that."

Helen blushed and glanced at the still-open office door. She whispered brokenly between his kisses. "It's the middle of the day. This door doesn't lock."

"My little prude." Nikola accused playfully. He straightened away from her with a cocky grin. "Your room's closer than mine." He said simply.

"I don't…I can't…" Helen said, mesmerized by his burning gaze. Then she cleared her throat and said the word she'd always withheld from this man. "Yes."

Nikola's smile widened and he looked…relieved? As if he were still afraid she would reject him. He leaned forward, kissed the tender spot under her ear and whispered. "I'll race you."

A surprising giggle burst out of Helen's mouth and she smothered a smile. She stood up slowly and pulled him against her, winding her arms around his neck, sliding her fingers into his hair. She kissed him with every bit of allure she possessed, stroking her body against his. When she drew back, his expression was dazed and he cleared his throat before managing. "Well!" Helen laughed and made a dash for the door and her bedroom. Nikola pursued, calling an irritated "_That _was cheating."after her.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello All - I know this isn't as long as my usual chapters and I haven't updated in a while. This little scene has been percolating for a few days and, in honor of Valentine's Day, I'm saying to blazes with plot progression for the moment and just writing a love scene for its own sake! If you like the story so far, let me know. I tend to run out of steam without feedback! Note the rating change on this story - due to this chapter.**

**

* * *

**

Helen rolled over in the tangle of sheets, reaching with one arm to find nothing but a lingering warmth where Nikola used to be. She frowned and opened her eyes, sitting up and pushing her hair back out of her face, she pulled the sheet up with her and held it in place with one hand. "Nikola?" She said to the empty room. For a brief, panicked moment, she tried to recall if she'd locked the door behind them. Then she felt guilty about worrying if her dear friend and new love had "escaped" to cause damage in the Sanctuary. She blew out a breath. Life was always so complicated.

"Here." Nikola strolled in from the bathroom wearing only a pair of black trousers and wiping the remnants of shaving cream off his face with a white towel. Helen drew her eyebrows together at him quizzically. His eyebrows rose in questioning response as he neatly put the towel into a hamper.

"I just don't think it ever occurred to me that you shave." Helen said with a laugh.

Nikola looked miffed. "Of course I shave. You've seen me with a mustache."

"And a beard...oh, and that horrible Van Dyke in the thirties." Helen recalled with amusement. "I've just never seen you with...stubble before."

"Of course you haven't. Until this week you also hadn't seen..."

Helen interrupted by laughing. "Point granted." She said. "So do you always shave after seducing a woman in the middle of the day?"

"I noticed that I had..." Nikola approached her and stroked the skin above the sheet she held to her breasts. She shivered pleasantly at his touch. She glanced down and saw some faint red abrasions on her skin.

"Oh." She said on a blush, recalling what it was Nikola had been doing when he gave her those marks.

"Oh." Nikola mimicked her with a knowing smirk. He bent and kissed her, then rubbed his now-smooth cheek against hers. "See?"

"Mm." Helen sighed. She tilted her face up and he kissed her again, toppling her backward across the bed and following her down, resting his weight above her on his elbows. "Nikola." She sighed as he moved to her collarbone. "About your theory..."

"Hm?" He murmured against her skin. He stopped and his head reared up to stare at her with a frown. "What?"

"Your theory. How do we test it?" Helen asked.

Nikola blinked then shook his head briskly as if clearing it. "You want to discuss this _now_?" He blinked at her. "We're losing the magic already." He complained dramatically.

Helen laughed. "I think we proved quite conclusively that we still very much have the magic less than an hour ago. We're going to die from sex overload if we keep this up."

"One, _that_ isn't a real thing." He said, pointing down at her. "And two, you said yourself that it would take a lot to kill either of us." But with a smirk and a resigned sigh, he rolled to lie beside her. He remained propped on his side, lazily stroking the curve of her cheek. "So what about my theory?" He said idly.

"How could we possibly test it?" Helen asked again. "How could we prove or disprove that you were an abnormal before taking the Source blood? Because the facts surrounding your...growing pains could suggest a hyper-accelerated adolescence of sorts if you were already an abnormal."

"How offensive." Nikola remarked offhandedly. He was still absorbed in tracing patterns on her flesh with his fingertips. "_Adolescence_, indeed."

"Oh, please, Nikola." Helen rolled her eyes. "It's hardly the first time someone has said that of you."

"It's hardly the first time _you've_ said that of me. It still hurts my feelings." Nikola replied with a tragic expression.

Helen laughed out loud. "At any rate, I meant the adolescence of your abnormality. Perhaps we arrested what might've been a gradual process when we gave you the Source and now you're...catching up all at once. Perhaps..."

"Once I'm all grown up the problems with stop?" Tesla finished. "I have considered that." He paused for a very long time.

"Nikola?"

"Helen, I don't do my best thinking in this environment." He admitted. "I am profoundly distracted. So, get some clothes on and talk business or let me have another shot at the death-by-sex scenario you described. Your choice, my dear."

"Hmmm." Helen considered with a twinkle in her eyes. Nikola trailed a fingertip over her collarbone, then slid his hand under the sheets. Her eyes went from twinkling to vague. "Mm, Nikola Tesla you're affecting my judgment." She mumbled.

"Good." He murmured, nuzzling her neck. "Take your time, I'll keep myself occupied until you figure it out." He slid his clever fingers lower and Helen moaned and gave in.

"Death by sex." She decided breathlessly. "But then I really...really....really...um"

"Yes?" Nikola lifted his head and smirked down at her dazed and flushed face.

"I have to...oh, you know what I mean..._do work_." Helen finally managed weakly before she lost all ability to form coherent thoughts. God, his hands! Those artist's hands of his might actually possess more sheer genius than his mind, she thought vaguely. He slid her over the first peak so quickly she was left panting and dazzled. She reached for him and, with wide darkened eyes filled with naked, terrified love, he went into her embrace and pressed his smoothly shaved cheek between her breasts, shuddering a contented sigh.

"I love you." He murmured brokenly. She stroked his hair.

Only their breaths and the rustle of sheets and clothing stirred the still air of Helen's bedroom as they twined together, lingering in the joy of their union until they both flew together.

They lay tangled together, gasping, Helen's body draped bonelessly across his. Her head pillowed on his shoulder. "I love you too." She whispered breathlessly against his neck. He sighed and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head.

"I knew it." He proclaimed, too breathless himself to sound altogether as smug and arrogant as he intended.


	11. Chapter 11

Henry hovered at the gate of the Sanctuary, taking much longer than was strictly necessary to fix a shorted sensor on the gate's security system. He kept glancing down the road and fretting over the wiring until he saw the dark blue Audi sedan turn up the drive toward the Sanctuary. Letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding he gave a friendly wave to the car when it approached the gate. The car stopped and Prisca Ferko poked her head out of the driver's window. "Hey, Henry. Am I on the list?" She asked, smiling and giving him a gleaming look.

He chuckled and entered the code to open the gate for her. "Don't you know that pretty girls are always on the list?" He said. Prisca grinned. His cheekbones colored a little. "So, can I get a ride back?" He asked.

"Hop in." Prisca moved her purse from the passenger seat and Henry got into the car. The car rolled through the gate and he entered the code to shut it behind them on his notebook computer.

"So, you here to see Tesla?" Henry asked.

"Yes." She replied.

"Good. That's good." He said. "It's going okay, right?"

She pulled a face. "As well as can be expected. He's impossible."

Henry smothered a laugh. Prisca's tone of voice was that of an indulgent and doting grandmother.

Prisca gave Henry a look from the corner of her eye. "Are you laughing at me?" She said sternly.

"Never. I would never." Henry asserted. Smothering a smile. "Hey, do you..."

"Yes?"

"I mean, would you like to maybe..."

"Henry, I'm driving slow on purpose here..." Prisca said, her eyes twinkling.

Henry glanced around, noticing the car was barely creeping along. He looked at her and grinned, his confidence boosted. "Want to go out sometime?" He asked.

Prisca smirked. "Yes." She said definitely, and stepped on the gas.

They reached the Sanctuary main entrance and exited the car. "So I'll call you? Or?" Henry held out a hand in query.

"Walk with me and we'll make plans." Prisca said. Henry looked uneasy. "Oh, for heaven's sake! He's a genius, he already knows. Plus he's watching from the library window." She pointed up at the Sanctuary.

Henry whirled and stared up at the second floor library windows. Tesla stood holding a large volume in his hands and a ferocious scowl on his face. "Damn." Said Henry succinctly. Somehow the genius-slash-world-class-jerk made him feel as nervous and awkward as a kid showing up at his date's house for his first school dance.

"Come on." Prisca snatched Henry's hand and gave Tesla a mutinous stare. "I don't need his permission. In fact, I'm pretty sure he needs mine." Henry hesitantly smiled. He was pleased to be holding Prisca's silk-gloved hand. Today her hands were the color of lemons. He thought that was kind of cool.

"So, I was thinking of just grabbing some dinner and maybe a movie. You know, classic first date stuff?" Henry started as they walked into the front entrance. "Then I thought, man, how many first dates exactly like that have you probably...you know...? Geez."

"Not as many as you might think." Prisca shrugged. They got into the elevator and Henry pushed the second floor button. "Dating has only really become common practice in Western culture in the last hundred years."

"Geez." Henry repeated. "What I meant was: would you like to go out to dinner and a movie?"

Prisca gave him a sidelong, calculating look. He was again momentarily startled to see Tesla's mannerisms displayed on this beautiful girl and secretly hoped he would eventually get used to it. She smiled. "Yes, I'd like to have dinner and see a movie with you. When?"

"Tomorrow?" Henry suggested.

"I have to work. Thursday?"

"Yeah. Cool." Henry nodded. The elevator door opened revealing Nikola Tesla, looking peevish.

"Paws off." He said, pointing at Henry.

Prisca gripped Henry's hand so he couldn't pull away. "I don't think that's for you to decide, Nikola. Unless you'd like me to weigh in on your personal life?"

"Ohw! So that's what you_ haven't_ been doing this past week?" Tesla bickered in return. "You're concerned about Helen's intentions – which are always honorable and good, might I add, it's one of her worst traits – but I can't be concerned about this…situation?" He waved a disgusted hand at Henry.

"Life isn't fair." Prisca shrugged dismissively, still gripping Henry's hand tightly as he shifted uncomfortably beside her.

"Oh! _Life isn't fair_. How very cynical and adult of you. Words of wisdom from grandmother. Maybe you could embroider that on a cushion for me so I'll remember to pass it along to future generations." Tesla spat.

"I'll tell them myself." Prisca fired back. Henry was now discreetly tugging on his hand.

"You." Tesla pointed a finger at Prisca and leaned into her. "Are utterly awful."

"What can I say? It's a family trait." She replied smugly, sticking her chin out, completely unintimidated. Tesla gave her a long, cool look and then grinned at her. Prisca grinned back. Henry wore an appalled expression.

Tesla drew in close to Henry and, with a smirk, said. "Sure you want to join the family, kid?"

"Uh." Henry said. He looked at Prisca. She smiled at him with glowing eyes full of mysteries and promises. "Yep."

Tesla's eyebrows rose with surprise at the werewolf's staunchness. Then he said dismissively. "Dogs are such loyal creatures. Wolves, I don't know." He leaned into Henry's face and said in a deadly flat voice. "One wrong step and I'll turn your skin into a rug." He tapped Henry once on the chest with his fingertip, delivering a brief shock. He straightened away from Henry's wide-eyed face and looked at Prisca mildly. "That wasn't too much, was it?"

She shrugged. "Graphic." She said, wiggling her hand in a so-so way. Henry recovered himself and, before he could prevent it, a low rumbling animal growl came from his throat. He glared at Tesla and rubbed his chest with his free hand. Prisca stared at Henry with deep feminine interest.

Tesla gave Henry an intrigued look up and down. "Fascinating." He murmured to himself. Then he turned briskly to Prisca. "Come on, we have work to do. Bring your pet if you like." He glided to the library doors. "My lab is this way." He gestured grandly for them to proceed down the corridor.


	12. Chapter 12

"Helen, I don't want to invade your private life, but as your friend I'm a little concerned about…" Will made a face.

"Nikola?" Helen asked. They sat in her office on opposite sides of her desk with a tea tray between them looking at resin and acrylic-based electrical components catalogs.

"I'm glad to see you happy, but you know he's…borderline psychopathic." Will said patiently.

"_Borderline_ is still better than her last boyfriend." Henry said frankly from the door. Both doctors turned to him with frowns. He held his hands up in surrender. "It's true!" He said plaintively. He walked into the room, propped a hip on her desk, and snatched a sandwich off the tray. "Hey, speaking of Tesla. He's looking for you. Some major breakthrough? I got sent as message boy."

"You're working with Nikola?" Helen asked incredulously. Her expression immediately cleared in understanding. "Prisca's here." She said. Henry coughed, glancing at Will, whose eyes narrowed slightly.

Helen stood and said. "Will you excuse me please?" She headed out the door. Will and Henry were left behind in her office.

"So you and Tesla's grandma? Is anyone here _not_ hooking up?" Will asked in exasperation.

"You." Henry said, with as much brashness as his humble nature would allow. He took another sandwich and spoke around a bite. "Obviously."

Will shrugged. "I'm not the one setting himself up to get Tesla as a step-son."

Henry choked on his sandwich. He recovered and said. "I haven't even actually taken her out on a first date, man. Tap the brakes."

"I'm only saying, man, even without the fangs he is one creepy guy." Will said frankly. "Can't figure out what Magnus sees in him."

"He really loves her." Henry said with a shrug..

"Is he even able to love anybody as much as himself?" Will said with a lift of his brows.

"Yeah." Henry said, frowning at Will earnestly. "I mean, he's totally kill-for-her and, more importantly, die-for-her in love with her. Probably as long as he's known her. You can't see that?"

Will stood and rolled his shoulders. "I see a lot of things." He said vaguely. "I gotta make my rounds in the Shoe – want to come along and say hi to Sally?"

"Sure." Henry hopped off the desk and the two men made their way into the depths of the Sanctuary to have a telepathic chat with the resident mermaid as if it were a perfectly normal thing to be doing on a Tuesday afternoon.

* * *

Helen could hear Nikola and Prisca snarling at each other even down the hall from Nikola's lab, but when she entered the room, both turned to greet her with matching brilliant smiles. Helen couldn't decide whether to be exasperated with them or thank her lucky stars that the one person they seemed to agree they liked was she.

"_Hel_en." Nikola said with a beguiling smirk. "I take it my messenger arrived?"

"Henry said you needed to see me?" Helen said in a brisk tone.

"It's so hard to train them, but once you do…" Nikola began a smug monologue.

"Less nonsense." Helen said archly, cutting him off. Prisca looked warily between the two geniuses.

Nikola sighed and turned to her. "Don't worry; mommy and daddy aren't angry at y…" His favorite sneer of late was cut off midsentence as he reconsidered it. "That's going to need some work." He muttered to himself. "Anyway!" He said, clapping his palms together in almost manic glee. "Look at this!"

He grabbed Helen's arm and propelled her toward the computer monitors, shooing Prisca out of the way in a careless manner as he did so. Prisca looked provoked, but was quiet as she stepped aside. He gestured with a flourish at the screen. "I give you permission to be impressed. I'm a genius." He said with a superior air.

"Good Lord, Nikola, you _are_ a genius." Helen said.

"I…what?" Nikola said, baffled by her acquiescence.

"It's so simple, it could work." Helen pointed to the formula on the screen.

"It _will_ work. I thought of it, didn't I?" Nikola said, smirk firmly in place again. "I'm…"

He was cut off from launching into a self-aggrandizing speech by Helen's palm over his mouth. His eyes goggled at her audacity then immediately narrowed, promising retribution. Helen turned to Prisca. "You're okay with this?"

The girl shrugged, acting nonchalant. "What's a few months out of five hundred years? Plus this might help me with…my problem."

Helen removed her hand from Tesla's mouth. "It would have to be somewhere secure."

He sighed. "The Shoe?"

"Can you think of a better place?" Helen asked.

"Barbados? Portugal? Anywhere but the Shoe?" He said hopefully. "You don't happen to have a private island do you?"

Helen smiled at him. "No."

"I used to." He said, moping. "1929 was a bad year."

"Where did you come up with this?" Helen wanted to know.

"Yesterday, during the course of events…" Nikola cleared his throat and slid a glance at Prisca. "You mentioned adolescence, you'll recall?"

Helen blushed. "I recall vividly. I didn't think you were paying attention."

"I always pay attention." Nikola said. He gave Helen a gleaming look. "I thought, what if this 'adolescence', as you so unpleasantly termed it, were allowed to run its course? Then I thought, is there a way we can predict its course? So, taking what I know about electricity and electromagnetic energy…" He pointed to Prisca.

"Which is a lot." She said grandly. Nikola grinned. Helen rolled her eyes, suspecting this portion of the speech had been rehearsed.

"…I took the data from the Sanctuary's systems recording the magnitude of the surges I created the three times I had episodes here and…conducted an experiment to recreate the magnitude of the incident at the restaurant." His eyes shifted away from one of the lab's corners. Helen immediately turned to see an incredible mess of glass and huge puddles of water in that corner. She heaved a sigh. Nikola shrugged. "Scientific inquiry." He said innocently.

"You're cleaning this up yourself. Don't even think of asking one of the others to help." Helen said firmly. Tesla looked petulant, but continued his explanation, moving his hands gracefully as he usually did when he spoke.

"The worst episode, far and away, was the unfortunate incident with that girl…"

"_Kate_." Helen provided.

"Yes." Nikola pointed a finger at Helen. "That one." He steepled his fingers and turned to the monitor, indicating the mathematical formula with his hands. "After that incident the magnitude of my outbursts significantly decreased. Since we've arrested the incidents I can only predict that, based on the ratio of decrease in subsequent bursts, it would take me a minimum of six months to grow into my abilities. I can't test this theory while on the medication you formulated."

"So you'll be locked in isolation? Being monitored all the time?" Helen felt a sense of loss.

"With my antidote close at hand." Nikola indicated Prisca. "I've looked into her abnormality further. I think you could produce a serum from _my_ cells to help neutralize _her _energy draw. But, until I'm stable we can't test that theory."

"So you'll stay here at the Sanctuary?" Helen asked Prisca.

"I'll stay in the Shoe by Nikola to make sure he doesn't damage the Sanctuary." Prisca said firmly. Helen looked between the two people in front of her. She saw the identical expressions of resolve on their faces.

"Prisca, may I have a moment with Nikola please?" Helen asked.

"Sure. I'll go find Henry. I don't think he was anticipating that I'd move in before our first date." Prisca grinned mischievously. She whisked out the door.

"Nikola, are you sure? Six months?" She said.

He cleared his throat and dropped his eyes. "Minimally." He said. He met her gaze again. "I'll be better able to pinpoint a specific timeline once I start…having episodes again."

"You could just keep taking your medication." Helen whispered, approaching him and laying a hand against his cheek. He closed his eyes and inhaled, pressing his cheek against her palm. He reached up and covered her hand with his and met her eyes. He drew her into his arms. She twined her arms around his neck.

"And be locked in at night? And wonder if all I needed was time? And…endanger you and the people you care about?" He said softly, his eyebrows drawn together. He drew a fingertip down over her eyebrow. "How can I sleep beside you not knowing if I'm a ticking time bomb?" He shuddered then shrugged, smoothing his anxious expression to a mild nonchalance. "It's only a few months. We'll survive it."

"We will." Helen said and it sounded like a vow. He met her eyes and his face sobered. He leaned and brushed a kiss across her lips.

"I'm not going to take my medication tomorrow." He said against her mouth. Helen's eyes flew open.

"Tomorrow? Oh, but..!" Helen protested.

"_For sooner then shall I return_." Nikola misquoted Wilde with a crooked smile.

"Oscar would be horrified." Helen said, smiling in return. "Tomorrow then."

"You'll visit me in prison?" He asked flippantly. "Stop me driving myself crazy?"

"Of course I will." Helen's face creased anxiously. "Are you quite sure you want to experiment on yourself like this?"

Nikola shook his head and chuckled. "My dear Helen, what else do you think we've been doing all these years?"

Helen raised her eyebrows and smiled.

A cleared throat at the doorway indicated Will's presence. Helen and Nikola stepped apart and turned to him. "Sorry." He said, holding out a hand. "Prisca tells me I'm getting two cells in Shoe ready for, uh…Tesla, party of two?" He looked to Helen for confirmation.

"That's right." Helen nodded. "Right away please. And…Will?"

"Yep?" Will paused, his face carefully blank.

"Try to make them…homey." Helen said. She glanced at Tesla and amended. "Non-metallic and homey."

"Got it." Will tapped twice on the doorframe and then hesitated before adding. "I think you're doing the right thing." To Tesla.

Tesla wrinkled his nose at Will and curled his lip. "So nice to know I have the support of Doctor Red Shirt." He said.

Will shook his head and smiled, refusing to engage with Tesla. "I'll go get things set up in the Shoe. Henry's taking Prisca home to pack some things and bring them back." Will left on his errands.

"Well, what should I do with my last night of freedom?" Nikola asked guilelessly, turning to Helen. She smiled and shook her head.

"You're honestly trying to kill us." She said.

"What a way to go." Nikola said fervently. He snatched her hand and hauled her toward the door.

"You have to clean up this mess." Helen said, looking back at the aftermath of his _experiment_.

"It'll still be there in six months." Nikola said dismissively and, with a strength that his slender frame belied, he hauled her over his shoulder and walked briskly to the elevator. She was gasping with laughter when he deposited her into the elevator cubicle, straightened his waistcoat and pressed the button for his floor then spun to pin her to the wall and kiss her senseless.


	13. Chapter 13

Will and Kate looked down into the Shoe from the catwalk. Bigfoot was just finishing arranging furniture to Prisca's specifications in her cell which had been altered to allow her to come and go but also locked down if she opened the door between her cell and Nikola's adjacent secure cell. Henry was making trip after trip back and forth from her car with boxes of her belongings. He looked exhausted, but Prisca kept smiling at him and he kept working.

"Pathetic." Kate stated with disgust thick in her voice, watching this display.

Will looked at her, taking in her defensive posture and the masked hurt on her face. "It's okay to be jealous. He used to hang out with you all the time and now he's focused on Prisca." He said.

Kate scoffed.

"Look, I know it can hurt when a close friend starts a relationship." Will said. "You can be happy for them and jealous at the same time. There's a legitimate sense of loss and that's okay." The tone of his voice suggested he wasn't just talking about Henry and Kate.

Kate looked at him and her eyes narrowed. "You too, huh? Magnus ditched you for Magneto?"

Will shrugged then turned to Kate with a rueful smile. "Yeah, sort of like that. Only I think Prisca's really on the level. Tesla, I just don't know."

"He seems to, you know, really…love her." Kate said grudgingly.

"Henry said that too." Will chuckled. He frowned and shook his head. "Tesla's a good actor. A great liar. He's selfish. Most of the time, even _I_ can't tell what's really going on with him."

Kate considered that.

Will continued. "I think this whole lockdown thing is good. It puts everyone at less risk. And…you know what?...if he keeps his end of the bargain and lasts six months in the Shoe I might be convinced he's good enough for Magnus. That's a lot of commitment from any guy, let alone Tesla." Will raised his eyebrows.

Kate laughed. "I doubt he'll last six _days_. He barely handled the three days he was in the Shoe before."

"I know he's doing this for himself too, but if keeping Magnus out of danger and helping Prisca weren't part of the equation I think he'd just keep taking his meds. You know he's claustrophobic? Helen told me." Will said. They kept looking down at the busy scene below them until Will finally said. "We should probably help them out."

"_You_ should." Kate corrected him. "I have a doctor's note. Until these stitches come out and I heal up, I'm an invalid." She grinned.

"Excuses, excuses, excuses." Will teased. "Come on, I'll help you down the stairs, Miss Invalid, you can still unpack boxes. It'll give you a chance to make friends with Prisca, too. I don't have that advantage with Tesla."

Kate laughed at the concept of befriending Nikola Tesla and allowed Will to steady her slow progress down the catwalk stairs. She admitted. "Yeah, she doesn't seem so bad. Except sometimes she's so like Tesla it's super creepy."

"She's most definitely nicer than Tesla." Will pointed out.

"Well, she's not _a genius_ so that's a start." Kate said with a smirk.

"That's the spirit." Will grinned. He helped her with the last few steps and jogged to Henry to take one side of the box he was struggling to carry.

"Thanks, dude." Henry panted.

"What's in here?!" Will said, already straining with his end of the box.

"Books." Henry said, rolling his eyes. "Just the essentials, I said, we'll go back for the rest with the Big Guy later. Guess these are the essential books."

Will laughed breathlessly.

"How did you guys get this into the car?" Will panted.

"I have…uh, you know, pretty significantly above average strength when I focus." Henry said. "I'm just a little too tired to focus right now."

"Gotcha." Will said. They maneuvered the box into Prisca's cell.

"Where do you want it, Pris?" Henry said in a strained voice.

"Here." She pointed to a corner with a bookshelf. "Just leave it, I'll unpack it. Thank you, Henry." She smiled brilliantly.

Will and Henry dropped the box with a thud by the bookshelf. "Oh, you know, no problem." Henry said still catching his breath.

"Thank you, Doctor Zimmerman." Prisca added, including him in the warmth of her charming smile. Kate came through the door and started looking around.

"Pleasure." Will said. He clapped a Henry's shoulder and the two men left the cell. "Anything other _essentials_ coming in?" He asked from the side of his mouth.

Henry glanced back at Prisca and replied in a low voice. "_Tons_." He rolled his eyes to the ceiling and grinned.

"Let's get to it." Will said. "We've still got Tesla's cell to set up after the Big Guy finishes putting in the furniture."

Left alone with Prisca, Kate put on a friendly face. "Hey, can I help unpack things for you?"

Prisca was surprised by Kate's demeanor, but kept a mild expression. She examined Kate with narrowed eyes. "Yes." She said. "You're injured though, right?"

Kate's smile got tighter but she said. "I can help with light stuff."

"I need to unpack my clothes from these suitcases and put them away. The suitcases have metal parts so…" Prisca indicated three large rolling cases. "I didn't really care to have the men do that." She colored slightly. "I was going to try to get to it later."

"Say no more." Kate held up a hand. "I'd be skeeved out if that crowd was handling my undies, too."

Prisca gave Kate a wide grin. "You are very direct." She said in an approving tone.

Kate shrugged and opened the first suitcase to reveal panties and socks. "So do you care how I do this? I'll bet Tesla alphabetizes his."

"He's so organized." Prisca said affectionately. "No, I don't mind. I just need the cases unloaded. I can always move things later if I can't find them. Maybe I'll alphabetize them." She said pointedly.

"You are one creepy pair, you know that?" Kate said, stacking folded underwear into a drawer.

"You're pretty creepy yourself. There's just not two of you." Prisca said with a shrug. Kate blinked.

"Huh." She said.

"Nikola and I aren't _that_ alike, you know." Prisca continued. "We have some obvious shared traits but…you know…I'm quite ordinary compared to him."

"_Ordinary_. Draining energy is normal?" Kate asked incredulously.

"Compared to Nikola." Prisca repeated. "I'm nothing special. Not clever, nor skilled, nor educated…"

Kate silently considered this.

Prisca started shelving books. "I mean, I may have abnormal abilities but they're not really useful for anything. Everyone else has useful abilities. Even Henry. He says it's difficult for him, but he's so strong, and self-controlled, and smart. You're smart too, I'll bet." Prisca spoke this last statement with a cool tone.

Kate shrugged. She hadn't considered that this beautiful, interesting girl might envy her. "I'm not stupid." Kate allowed.

"How long have you known Henry?" Prisca said casually.

"Oh no, we are not devolving into girl talk." Kate groaned. "Especially not girl talk about Henry. Ugh."

"So you and he…?"

"No!" Kate said in exasperation.

"You and…Doctor Zimmerman?" Prisca asked incredulously.

"Me and _nobody_ for the moment." Kate said firmly.

"What's wrong with Henry? Why 'ugh'?" Prisca scowled now.

"Look, do you have…or did you have brothers?" Kate asked.

"No, I was an only child."

"Well, I have a younger brother, Thad, and I feel the same way about Henry as I do about Thad." Kate said.

Prisca narrowed her eyes in consideration then gave a nod. "Now I understand why you're so protective and possessive about him."

"Let's just talk about something else." Kate begged. "Hair, makeup, clothes, The Jonas Brothers…?"

Prisca laughed. "They're kind of cute, aren't they?" She said.

"Of course you think so. You're, like, seventeen." Kate said. Realization dawned. "Oh, yuck! You're seventeen! Henry's _thirty_!"

"Actually, I'm about four hundred and fifty years old." Prisca corrected archly. "I've been a wife and mother…and grandmother…and I'm afraid you're going to have to get used to the idea of me with Henry because I mean to have him."

Kate groaned in disgust. "I promise to internalize all future objections if you promise never to say that again."

Prisca smirked. "Good."

"You are so _Tesla_ right now."

"Thank you." Prisca said smugly.

"Oh yeah, I _definitely_ meant that as a compliment." Kate rolled her eyes. "Now where do you want your socks?"

"Bottom drawer." Prisca said instantly. She cocked her head. "Is it odd that I always put them in the drawer nearest to my feet?"

Kate shrugged. "Seems logical to me. Gotta have a system." The two young women shared a tentative smile.

Will and Henry entered the cell carrying a box each. Prisca showed them where to put the boxes and then shamelessly flattered their male egos till they almost swaggered out to door to make another trip. Kate watched, impressed.

"You'll have to show me how to do that. They act like they're killing dragons for you and normally they call _me_ to kill spiders." Kate said.

Prisca's lips curved and her eyes gleamed. "Men like to be needed." She said, sphinxlike.

"Huh." Kate said. She made a mental note to try it out sometime. She glanced out of the clear partition wall and rolled her eyes. "Oh barf, here come the lovebirds."

Nikola Tesla, looking neat as a pin and very pleased with himself, glided into the Shoe followed by Helen Magnus, who was a little rosy and mussed-looking.


	14. Chapter 14

Tesla immediately began forcing rearrangement of his quarters upon his arrival. He fussed, ordered, and insulted everyone until the cell was exactly the way he wanted it. Prisca was the only one who seemed to think Tesla's obsessive specifications were reasonable. At one point she even put herself between Henry and Tesla to prevent bloodshed.

"Well, he's got to be in there for so long and it's not as if anyone can go in and rearrange things for him once he goes off his medicine." She said, defending Tesla. The Serbian genius stood behind her with his hands on his hips, scowling ferociously. Henry's eyes were flashing between his usual quiet blue and bright green, but he closed his eyes tight and took a deep breath and smiled down at Prisca.

"That's true." He agreed tightly, and helped Bigfoot move the heavy wooden desk across the room _again_.

Helen was exasperated by Nikola's behavior, but could see the underlying panic that was fueling his already obsessive compulsive personality. Will bit his tongue, too. Perhaps he couldn't understand Tesla generally, but he was a psychiatrist and he certainly could understand fear. Henry, Kate, and even the Big Guy, however, had no such tolerance. Kate was all but breathing fire by the time the last items had been shifted for the last time. By this time it was nearly midnight and all of the Sanctuary's staff was more than ready to call it a day.

"I'm too wound up to sleep." Prisca announced when the group entered the elevator to go up to the residential levels of the Sanctuary. "Does anyone want to join me for a glass of wine?"

The group glanced among themselves and everyone nodded.

"I think that's a lovely idea, Prisca." Helen said, looking very tired but smiling. "Will you and Nikola choose the bottles? He can show you were the cellars are. Why don't we all meet in the library?"

A glass of wine in the library was a calm and relaxing end to such a whirlwind of a day. Nikola and Prisca, given carte blanche in the wine cellar, rejoined the group quickly with seven excellent, rare bottles and identical manic grins on their faces.

"_Seven_ bottles? There are only seven of us here." Helen chided with a smile.

"Then we'd better get to work." Nikola returned with a gentler version of his usual obnoxious grin. The group all caught the soft look in the scientist's eyes when he said this to Magnus, only Will remained skeptical. Prisca set about expertly corking bottles and decanting the contents into a collection of crystal decanters she had produced from heaven-knew-where. She even had glass wine strainers for the older vintages with high sediment and aerators for the reds.

"Where did you find all this?" Henry said, mystified. He had lived in the Sanctuary nearly his entire life and spent more than his share of time in the kitchens and had never seen any of these devices anywhere on the premises before.

"I brought it from home." Prisca shrugged as she poured small amounts of wine into appropriate stemware.

"Oh, _essentials_." Will grinned with a sidelong glance at Henry. Henry smothered a smile.

Prisca frowned at Will. "Of course they're essentials. I'm not a _farmer_." She said in disgust. "I suppose you drink boxed wine from plastic tumblers."

Nikola raised his glass as if toasting Prisca, looking fatuously pleased with her for scathing one of his own favorite targets. Will just rolled his eyes and grinned, always a better man than stooping to swap insults.

Wine glasses were passed, Prisca gave brief instructions on how to taste the wine and the group relaxed, talking and drinking until finally falling asleep just before the rosy fingers of dawn reached through the library windows and touched the faces of the group of colleagues, friends, adversaries, and lovers gathered together for the last time for a long time.

Tesla and Kate alone were awake when the soft rays of the dawning sun began to lighten the fire-lit solitude of the library. Tesla squinted into the soft light and sighed. He was gracefully draped over one side of a leather couch with a sleeping Helen cuddled against him, her head resting on his chest. Will sat on the other side of the sofa, dozing. Prisca and Henry were sprawled in a large chair together like a pile of sleeping puppies. Bigfoot was stretched out on the floor on his back, snoring softly.

Kate was curled on her side on a loveseat, staring into the fireplace embers. At Tesla's soft sigh, she glanced up at him questioningly. He put a finger to his lips and mouthed. "It's time." Kate was silent as Tesla gently lifted Helen's head and turned her to lean against Will's shoulder. Tesla met Kate's gaze and she drew in a quick breath at the unmasked emotions she saw on his face. Naked fear, sadness, and resolve showed in his silver eyes without any of his customary pretenses. He nodded at Kate, bent and pressed a gentle kiss to Helen's temple, brushing back her dark curls with a worshipful hand. He approached Kate and bent his face down to hers. Kate stiffened instinctively, wary of this vulnerable, real Tesla even more than the usual annoying and bombastic Tesla. He looked at her intensely and said, almost without sound. "Don't let Helen let me out until it's over. No matter what. She's too soft." His mouth twisted in a semblance of his usual mocking smile.

Kate nodded, her eyes round. Tesla straightened, turned, and glided silently from the library without looking back.

* * *

The first month was the worst. Although anyone might have predicted it, it was true. The Sanctuary hummed and rattled and Prisca temporarily moved a cot into Tesla's cell so she would have to get up fewer times during the night to calm his electromagnetic storms. The rages returned and Prisca stoically bore the bruises. Tesla stoically bore the agony of guilt for creating them. Henry and Helen stoically bore the feelings of impotence and helplessness. Will, Bigfoot, and Kate stoically bore the emotional brunt of everyone else's torment. Tempers were short, emotions were high, and new information about Cabal movement caused daily concerns about security.

Tesla alternately raged and begged to be given a dose of the medication or to be set free from the confines of the small cell. Helen wept. A dark cloud hung over the Sanctuary and its occupants.

* * *

The second month brought more challenges. The rages became less frequent, the energy cascades more frequent. The replacement costs for fried electrical components mounted and the EM shield began to have almost daily shorts. Tesla was nearly bedridden from the changes and abuse his body was enduring and was barely able to continue his analysis of his condition. His calculations became more accurate with each episode and his prison term increased from a predicted six months to a predicted eight months. No one ever saw or heard him weep, but his eyes were often red and swollen.

The mutations in his body that had previously been arrested now rampaged through him. The external changes were subtle. His skin took on a bluish glow; his eyes seemed lit from within. The changes to his DNA were extraordinary. Helen monitored blood samples taken daily and was shocked to see that his cells were not only able to withstand the electromagnetic cascades, but that they were actually now regenerating more quickly and each new generation was stronger, more impervious to damage, and more efficient. "It seems you really are turning into Superman." She told Tesla through the clear wall as he lay, wan and exhausted, on his bed in the cell. "It also seems that you are your own fountain of youth." She smiled encouragingly.

"I feel like the fountain of death." He complained bitterly. "I need a shower but I'm afraid I'll faint. _Faint_." He made a disgusted sound. He turned his head with effort and a ghost of his old smirk crossed his face. "Did you wear that for me?" He said with interest.

Helen blushed, looking down at the brief red dress and ridiculous heels she wore. "This old thing?" She teased. "I wear it every Thursday."

Tesla chuckled and the effort made him cough violently and then lay still, panting. He recovered enough to say in a flippant tone. "If I die, wear that to my funeral."

"Nikola!" Helen censured, but she smiled at him.

Tesla sighed, a depressed sigh. "I hate it in here. I have panic attacks. It's degrading."

Helen's face softened in sympathy. "The whole thing is degrading. I…I'm proud of you, Nikola."

Nikola turned his face so she wouldn't see how her words affected him. He made a scoffing sound but it lacked authenticity.

* * *

The third month was much like the second, to everyone's frustration. The rages nearly ceased to exist. Only the overwhelming surges of power remained, which continued to cause havoc and worry about the Sanctuary's security. Tesla remained bedridden except during his episodes. It was fitting, therefore, that John Druitt returned to the Sanctuary during this time.

The EM shields, which normally prevented Druitt from popping in and out of the Sanctuary like a homicidal genie, were again out of commission due to burned out circuitry. Druitt flashed into existence right beside Helen as she brought lunch to Prisca and Tesla in the Shoe. She nearly dropped the wooden tray, but recovered herself and said coldly. "Hello John, the EM shields must be down again."

"With some frequency these days, I understand." Druitt replied callously. He followed her to the cells holding Prisca and Tesla. Prisca came out to take her lunch and Tesla's lunch. She eyed Druitt with a look that said she had judged him and found him deficient. Druitt looked at her in suspicion, then realization, then alarm. "Good God, you've found a nest of them." He said in disgust.

"John, this is Prisca Ferko. Prisca, John Druitt." Helen said. The two people nodded to one another and Prisca turned regally and glided back into her cell with the laden tray. Helen took her own lunch and placed it on a small table beside Tesla's cell. "What are you doing here, John?"

"Oh, I heard the old boy was having a bit of trouble." Druitt said with cold pleasure. He looked into the cell where Nikola lay motionless. Prisca entered the cell and set out Nikola's lunch, then retreated into her own room to eat. "Something serious?" Druitt asked hopefully.

"He'll be fine." Helen said shortly.

"That's not what I heard. Electromagnetic storms? Homicidal rages?" Druitt said smoothly. "Sounds as if he's quite out of control of himself. I suppose you do have a type." The last was said with a smirk.

"If you're suggesting that he's like you, you're wrong." Helen said, turning on Druitt. "He is seeking a cure. He doesn't embrace the violence and destruction the way that you do. You may not have chosen your burden, John, but you've chosen your path."

Druitt's face changed, becoming empty and deadly. Helen continued. "At the first test, you failed me, John. You betrayed me and everyone else who once loved you. You never asked for help, you've never wanted help. Nikola has every opportunity and inclination to be as twisted and evil as you have become, John. In fact, he has a greater capacity for it, and yet _he_ can conquer it. Is that what always made you jealous? That he was not only smarter and more gifted, but that he was also better than you?"

Druitt's nostrils flared and he stiffened. "Watch your mouth, Helen." He said in a low voice and a half-smile.

"I won't." Helen said softly. "You've come to gloat while he's weak. But he's strong, John, stronger than you chose to be…stronger than you ever could be." She turned away from Druitt to look into Tesla's cell at his motionless form. "And he's the better man, John. He always was." Helen said, allowing her voice to be cruel.

Druitt's hand flashed out and grabbed the back of Helen's neck, forcing her to face him. His features were twisted with rage. "I told you to watch your mouth." He ground out through his teeth. His hands circled her neck. Tightened.

In a blur, a knife appeared from Druitt's pant leg and hurled itself at his throat, hovering in the air with the tip just breaking the skin over his jugular. Druitt froze and dropped his hands from Helen's neck. She stumbled back, wide-eyed and gasping. The knife stayed suspended against Druitt's skin. A trickle of blood slid down his collar. He tried to move it, but the metal charged and delivered a brisk electrical shock.

Helen whirled to look at Nikola. He was still lying in bed, but one hand was now held out. With effort, he shifted on the bed and sat up. He stood and walked on shaky legs to the clear partition where he steadied himself with one hand flat against the window. "Don't you touch her." He said in a raspy voice, his face ghostly pale but full of lethal promise. Sweat was beaded on his forehead.

Druitt glared at him. "Just dropping in to check on an old friend." He said, barely moving his lips. Tesla snorted.

"Nikola…" Helen said softly, her voice full of concern. The knife wavered slightly in the air as Nikola met her eyes, then it steadied again. Nikola turned to Druitt.

"The difference between you and me, Jack, is that I love her enough to _try_ to be worthy of her. You never really gave a damn." Nikola said, summoning some of his usual coolness and self-possession. "If I were really like you, we wouldn't be talking right now. You'd already be dead."

The knife dropped to the floor with a loud clatter. Druitt breathed, relaxing gratefully. Helen quickly picked up the knife and held it at her side. "I think you'd better go now, John." She said without inflection.

Druitt glanced between Helen and Tesla with angry eyes and abruptly vanished in a flash of red sparks. Helen swiftly grabbed her walkie and spoke into it. "Henry, please get the EM shield up now."

"Almost there." Henry's voice crackled back. A pause. "Okay."

Helen exhaled with relief and set the knife on the table as if she couldn't bear to touch it. She turned to Nikola. He smirked at her weakly. "You meant all that, didn't you? Better man…all that?"

Helen laughed softly and nodded. "I did. You are." She approached the window and pressed her hand against his. "You frightened me for a moment."

"Ohw! Have a little faith, Helen." Nikola chided. He was short of breath from his efforts. He slowly straightened and took the few steps over to collapse gracelessly into the chair set by the desk where his lunch was laid out. He panted for a few seconds, resting his face in his hands, then sat up and eyed his lunch with a little interest. "Lobster bisque." He said approvingly. He glanced at Helen's tray. "You're staying?" He said with a hopeful look.

"Of course." She said. She sat and uncovered her tray.

"Why do you have a sandwich?" Nikola asked with a frown.

"Bigfoot knows you don't like to eat with your hands. He's gotten rather soft about you." Helen smiled.

Tesla squirmed, unable to quell the slight pleasure he felt about that. "Hmph." He said. "I don't need that creature's pity." But his statement lacked his usual acid tone. Wearily, he picked up his spoon to eat.

"Do you feel up to telling me your latest calculations?" Helen asked, starting her own meal.

"You just can't wait to have me back, is that it?" Nikola said smugly. He gently swirled a spoonful of soup to cool it.

"Exactly." Helen said with a smile.


	15. Chapter 15

The fourth month the corner was turned. The frequency and magnitude of Tesla's bursts began to decrease. He gained strength.

The fifth month brought more improvements and the whole Sanctuary felt the darkness begin to lift and hope to return.

The sixth month, Tesla's condition had improved to the point that he described it as "a five hundred milliamps of direct current case of the hiccups". Still giving off enough power during these "hiccups" to kill a man with a touch, he remained in his cell in spite of his increasing agitation and panic over the confined space.

On day two hundred and three, just shy of seven months from the day he entered it, Nikola emerged from his cell. He was paler, thinner, and somewhat quieter, but none of this lasted very long.

* * *

Will tapped on the doorframe of Helen Magnus's office. "Am I interrupting?" He asked her. She looked up from the medical journal she was reading and smiled.

"Not at all, come in." She said.

"The medication you made for Prisca seems to be working." Will said heavily.

"Well, that's excellent news isn't it?" Helen said brightly.

"Sort of." Will said with a wince. "It seems her infertility was a result of her body's absorption of any pregnancy's life energy. So now that the absorption has been blocked…"

Helen's eyes widened. "Good God." She said.

"Yup." Will shrugged. "We'll be hearing the pitter patter of little paws sometime in July, she thinks."

"Who's going to tell Nikola?" Helen said with a somewhat desperate laugh.

"Prisca was completely prepared to tell him herself, but you know she can be pretty…er, aggressive?...and I told her it would probably be best if you told him." Will said. "After all, he…really loves you." Will smiled. Then he pulled a face. "He may still murder Henry, but you're their best bet."

Helen laughed breathlessly. "Good Lord, a baby." She murmured, her face blooming into a smile. Then she said sternly. "Tell Henry and Prisca to lay low for a few days and that Henry should by no means ask Nikola for his permission to marry Prisca. I know Henry's old fashioned, but trust me, it'll just give Nikola an opportunity to be awful."

"Got it." Will rose and turned to go.

"So you've made up your mind about Nikola?" Helen said casually, stopping him with the question.

Will turned back and smiled wryly at Helen. "Several times." He replied. "But the guy keeps surprising me."

Helen cocked her head and frowned slightly.

"He's not exactly Prince Charming, but if you love him then you should be with him." Will said. "He loves you, Helen. It may be the only thing I know for sure about him."

"Thank you, Will." Helen smiled softly.

* * *

Two days later, Tesla had cooled to a simmer and Prisca and Henry emerged from hiding. It seemed to placate Tesla that the two intended to marry. He was, it seemed, an old-fashioned man himself.

The wedding was small. Kate acted horrified to find herself enlisted as the Maid of Honor. It was clear to see that she loved it. Will was Henry's Best Man. Nikola snarled at the groom when he gave the bride away. The groom growled back. Helen privately laughed at the oddity that she was, for all intents and purposes, the mother of the groom in a relationship with the many times great grandson of the young pregnant bride.

Bigfoot officiated the ceremony.

After the wedding, Helen sat in the last light of the day holding Nikola's hand. "It'll be nice to have a baby around." She said with a soft smile.

Nikola looked aghast.

"You don't want children?" Helen teased.

Nikola narrowed his eyes at her and did what any man would do if asked the same question. He hedged. "Do you?"

She sighed, thinking of Ashley. "Maybe one day."

Nikola considered this and nodded. "Maybe one day." He agreed. "Think of the brilliant children we would have. You'll have to marry me first of course."

"You'll have to ask me one day." Helen returned.

"I'll be sure to do that." Nikola smirked at her. She grinned and his eyes took on a familiar gleam. "We could leave the reception early." He suggested in a silky tone.

Helen gave him a censuring look, but her cheeks flushed and her eyes darkened. She glanced at the rest of the group, celebrating in the Sanctuary gardens. Every Sanctuary resident, except the dangerous ones, had attended the event and all were dancing on the small dance floor Bigfoot had set up for that purpose.

At the center of the group stood Helen's dearest friends, her family. Kate and Will danced together, somewhat awkwardly since Kate kept trying to lead. Prisca and Henry swayed together, wrapped in their own bliss, without hearing the notes of the music. Bigfoot fretted happily over the sound system. Helen squeezed Nikola's hand and said. "Let's stay a few more minutes."

Nikola looked at her face and saw the joy there. He felt his heart swell at the sight and frowned in irritation. "If we stay will you wear the red thing later?" He said, his self-serving nature still utter and complete.

Helen rolled her eyes. "Nikola," she said with affectionate exasperation, "you are outrageous."

"Ohw, but would you have me any other way?" He said with a grin.

"There are times when I would have you any other way." She replied, smothering a smile. He gave her an incensed look. "Now, come and dance with me." She said.

Nikola rose gracefully and took her hand with a slight bow and a smirk. She stood and followed him to the dance floor. "I have a question for you." He said, pulling her into his arms.

"Don't you dare propose now." Helen warned. Nikola looked miffed.

"I wasn't going to." He protested virtuously. "I merely wanted to know what that clear material is you used in the cells of the Shoe. You promised to tell me."

Helen laughed. "Oh, it's something I compounded about a dozen years ago. Very strong, self-healing, practically impenetrable except under certain conditions, one of which is sustained electromagnetic charges combined with shattering force, which is why I couldn't tell you before."

"Fascinating." Nikola said.

"I call it Teslon because I can see right through it." Helen added with a twinkle in her eye.

Nikola groaned in disgust at the name, but his lips twitched with the beginnings of an arrogant smirk. He gracefully spun Helen around the dance floor.

The last rays of the setting sun painted a rainbow of colors across the sky. In the gardens, and the massive stone edifice they surrounded, there was happiness, friendship, love, and peace. A haven. Sanctuary for those fortunate enough to find it.

THE END


End file.
